Lyoko Plus Two
by SheSaysCiao
Summary: It's been four months since the Lyoko Warriors rid the world of XANA. Sissi has been integrated into their friend group, and a new girl arrives shortly after the beginning of the school year. Everything is going well until strange electrical things start happening again, bringing them to question if their old enemy was actually defeated.
1. Chapter I

**Chapter I**

* * *

The day had started out just like any other. Four months after the Lyoko Warriors had defeated XANA, they spent their summer vacations in blissful ignorance, trying to decompress from the events of the two years prior. Only now they were partway through the fall semester at Kadic, where everything had remained pretty much the same as before – save that, of course, Sissi was now a permanent fixture in their group.

"I still don't understand why you were always sneaking off all the time," she commented bitterly. It was breakfast time, and they were crowded around their usual table. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aelita flinch as she bit into a croissant. "What was so mysterious? It's like, now you all suddenly have so much time on your hands."

The table was silent. Across from her, William was brooding as usual; only Sissi didn't fail to notice how different he was coming across compared to his typical behavior. He seemed more depressed somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She distinctly remembered Hervé and Nicholas, who had a room next to his, telling her once that he often woke up screaming something about Xanax? But why would he need anti-anxiety meds if he was so downtrodden? She assumed they had misheard him, but at the time she also realized how his fitful sleeping habits were similar to Aelita's screaming about wolves during the night.

However, she chose to ignore whatever it was that plagued William – it didn't really interest her as much as it may have otherwise.

They were still silent. No one had answered her. Odd cleared his throat, and Ulrich opened his mouth as if to say something, but promptly shut it. It was eventually Jeremie who quelled the awkwardness.

"Obviously, you noticed we were off campus a lot," he started off, "but it wasn't anything super interesting. We just wanted to get away from the stress of school. It was difficult to meet up with Yumi at night, since she's not a boarder, so we'd just hang out in the park or something." He took a sip of his juice. "Really, you wouldn't have wanted to come along with us even if you'd known."

Somehow Sissi didn't think that was the truth, but she chose to ignore it. More than once she'd had weird dreams, almost like déjà vu; she was on the bridge that ran over the Seine, and then she was in an abandoned factory on an island. Occasionally she was in a circular room lit by green lighting that reminded her of something from a science fiction movie. She distinctly remembered Jeremie being there, sitting at some command module, but another time it was Ulrich. But she had never mentioned anything to them, as she didn't feel it that important.

There was movement off to the side that caught her attention. A girl who she didn't know was navigating the breakfast line and visibly very anxious about it; but the weird thing was, to the girl's left, a black dog stood wearing a harness with a handle on it, like a guide dog for someone who was blind.

Her father's voice floated into her mind from a conversation they'd once had: Sissi had seen a few children who were blind at a park once when she was little, and asked her father if they went to any of the specialized schools in Paris.

"Sissi, dear," her father had started off, "although the _Institut National des Juenes Aveugles_ , and _l'Institut d'Education Sensorielle de Paris_ are quite fine schools indeed, those children are just like you, except they might not be able to see that well. I'm sure some of them may go to either establishment, but there's no reason for their parents not to put them in a mainstream school. Take Kadic, for example…"

She knew there had been more to the conversation, and her mind was probably paraphrasing what her father had said, but the point was still the same.

"Who's that?"

Aelita snapped her out of her reverie by discretely motioning toward the girl, who was now walking toward them. Somehow, she was able to maneuver, deftly, by holding on to the tray with her right hand while her dog guided her on the left. She didn't even drop anything, which was more than Sissi could say for Nicholas, even, and he could see perfectly!

She was a little bewildered, but a quick look at the faces around the table showed that no one else really cared; Odd wasn't even looking, but instead his face was deep in the giant cup of hot chocolate he'd used to dip his croissant in, much like Aelita. She was beginning to see how they were related.

The girl had approached their table. Up close, she actually looked a mixture of exhausted and mildly terrified. She had an olive complexion and wavy dark brown hair, that was almost black and was about the same length as Sissi's. Her eyes were a similar color to her hair; she was also fairly short, probably an inch or two taller than Aelita.

"Hi," she started boldly. "I'm Giana. Can I sit with you?"

"Sure," Aelita said, smiling. "I'm Aelita. It's nice to meet you."

Giana sat down next to her, tentatively, putting her tray on the table in front of her. She told her dog to do something in English that no one seemed to understand, and it slid under her chair to rest. But Sissi did notice William perk up ever so slightly. She forgot that he was originally from England.

"You speak English?" he asked.

"Yes," she responded. "I'm from the United States, however my mother's from France and my father's from Italy. I basically grew up speaking three languages."

"I'm William," he said. "My mother's French but my father's English – I was born and raised in England but came here last year."

She smiled, taking a bite out of a croissant.

They went around and continued introductions. Odd made a passing comment about how Kiwi would have a new friend to play with.

"What's your dog's name?" he asked. He must've finally realized he had chocolate all over his face, because he was in the process of trying to wipe it off.

"Vega."

"How come you started school a month into the semester?" Sissi found herself asking.

"My mother went here when she was younger. I was supposed to start at the beginning of the year, but the paperwork for my visa took a lot longer than we'd anticipated, especially since I was bringing Vega into the country."

"Where in the US are you from?" Ulrich asked. "I went to Disney World when I was younger – are you from near there?"

"No," Giana laughed. "I'm from Boston. It's in Massachusetts."

The idle chitchat died down as they all finished their meals. Then the warning bell rang.

"We'd better get going," Jeremie said. "We don't want to be late to Ms. Meyer's class."

"Yeah, she might actually give us detention this time," Ulrich said dryly.

"Is she that bad?" Giana asked. She then told her dog to do something in English, and appeared to have praised her for finding the trash bin and tray disposal.

"Trust me," Odd said. "I've gotten in trouble more times than I can count, and Ms. Meyer's punishments are probably one of the worst. Like Ms. Hertz, she's really strict."

"I'll see you guys later," William called out. "I gotta meet up with Yumi. She and I have art with Mr. Chardin."

As soon as William separated himself from the group, Hervé and Nicholas approached, flanking Sissi on either side just like normal. She supposed she shouldn't hem and haw too much, as she had been ignoring them lately in favor of Jeremie and his friends.

But the two boys had other ideas.

"Who are you?" Nicholas asked, indicating Giana. "And why do you have a dog?"

Sissi gave him a sharp elbow in the ribs as a signal to shut up, but that hardly seemed effective.

"I'm Giana," the new girl said. She was a few strides ahead of them, but turned her head back briefly to introduce herself. "And I have a dog because I'm visually impaired. She's my guide dog."

Nicholas introduced himself, and gave Hervé an opportunity to say hello, but the other was very curt. He kept making sidelong glances at Sissi, and sat down next to her once they got to the classroom, as if on autopilot. She chose to ignore him, as per usual.

"Why haven't you been making time to hang out with Nicholas and I?" he accused. "Ever since you were accepted into Jeremie's friend group last year, we've hardly seen you except for classes! You barely even acknowledge us when we do see you."

She balked. "Sorry," she said meekly. "I guess I need to learn how to better balance my friends."

"Or, you could include us as well."

"But you and Jeremie are always rivaling each other at everything. No offense, but I hardly think it would be a good idea to–"

"Good morning, class," Ms. Meyer greeted, having appeared out of literally nowhere at the front of the room. "Please welcome me in saying hello to a new student." She gestured to the new girl. "This is Giana De Luca."

Sissi and Hervé looked up to find Giana standing at the front of the room with Ms. Meyer, clearly uncomfortable. The whole classroom seemed to have gone quiet, as everyone stared at the new girl with the dog. Sissi glanced sideways at Hervé, and she knew that even he realized Giana must've felt awkward being the center of attention. She noted that she did a good job masking her feelings, but if you really knew what to look for, one could tell that she had anxiety written all over her face.

"Hi," she introduced herself shyly. "Um, I'm Giana. I'm from the United States. Nice to meet you."

She muttered something to Vega, who took her to an empty seat next to Heidi Klinger. Clearly Ms. Meyer had expected her to say something about the black lab, but she chose to ignore it, instead starting another boring math class with a pop quiz.


	2. Chapter II

**Chapter II**

* * *

About a month had gone by and Giana was settling in quite nicely with Vega. One evening, she was in her room with her dog and Kiwi; she had offered to watch him for Odd while he and Jeremie went into town to get comic books or something. She threw a ball to the other side of the room and he bounded after it.

She failed to notice a black smoky substance coming from an electrical outlet a few feet away from her. the substance found the two dogs and they absorbed it, going rigid in the process.

"What the hell?" she asked, as if the dogs would answer. "Kiwi? You alright buddy?"

She stood up and turned around to see Vega charging toward her. She had been lying on her dog bed below the window, the night sky dark against the white walls and harsh lighting of the room. Her eyes bugged out, but she quickly managed to sidestep her guide dog.

Giana flung her door open and ran out into the hallway to find Aelita leaving her room next door. She started down the hall away from her, toward Ulrich. They were talking about meeting up with Jeremie and Odd later.

"Hey, um, Ulrich! Aelita!" she shouted. "I think there's a problem here!"

"Huh?"

The two teens whipped around to find Vega and Kiwi, growling, both poised to attack. They noticed their irises flashing with the all-too-familiar symbol that represented XANA.

Quickly, the boy shoved the dogs back into her room and slammed the door.

"Go to Aelita's room and lock the door," he told her. Aelita pressed her the key into her palm. "Don't come out until we say so!"

"Oh, _no_ ," Giana started forcefully. "You obviously know what's going on! I'm coming with you." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

 _Maybe Sissi was right,_ she thought. She recalled a conversation the two of them had had the other day; Sissi told her about how Jeremie and Ulrich and the rest of them were always sneaking around, going off campus in the middle of the night, keeping secrets, acting generally weird. Supposedly all that had stopped, at least as far as the girls were concerned. But it looked as if they were up to their old games.

It was at that moment that the light bulbs in the hallway started to explode. Glass rained down around them, and they heard shrieks coming from the other girls who were in their rooms; they all opened their doors to reveal that the power was out for the whole floor.

"You don't trust me, do you?" she realized.

It was like Ulrich's whole body deflated. Defeated, he let out an agitated sigh, and shrugged. He figured Giana wouldn't remember anything anyway, once they returned to the past.

Aelita opened her mouth to protest, but Ulrich gave her a look that Giana couldn't see.

It wasn't as if they could buy themselves time – they had to get to the factory sooner rather than later. Not only were the dogs possessed and the lights were exploding, but a few of their fellow students started toppling over as XANA's black smoke wrapped around them like strait jackets.

"Alright, come on!" Ulrich said, grabbing her wrist.

Aelita fished her cell phone out of her bag as they ran, sending a text they all thought they'd never have to see again. It simply read "S.O.S XANA," which immediately garnered responses from Jeremie and Yumi.

They were outside now, having miraculously left the building unscathed. They spotted Odd up ahead of them as they raced through the quad.

"Hey, what's going on?" he shouted.

"Did you check your phone?" Aelita asked.

"No, I left it in my room, I needed to charge it!" he responded.

"Damn it, Odd!" Ulrich exclaimed, running past him. His grip on Giana's wrist tightened, and she shouted in protest. Odd took the hint and raced alongside them. "Run back in and get your phone! Be careful – the lights on the girls' floor literally blew out, so I'm assuming the rest of the building will follow." He tossed him his room key with a mini flashlight clipped to the keychain, just in case. "Come back out here when you're done and wait for Yumi so you can do recon. We have to get to the factory! It's a XANA attack!"

"What factory?" Giana inquired. It was then that Odd realized they weren't alone.

"Where are the dogs?" he asked.

"In my room," she answered. She gestured toward Ulrich and Aelita. "I was told not to go back in there."

While Odd had actually gone into town, Jeremie, however, was in the lab. Aelita's phone rang and he could be heard on the other end, frantically shouting about having localized an activated tower. The only reason why he'd even gone to the factory in the first place was to tap into the supercomputer's mainframe, as the superscan kept notifying him of activity on Lyoko. Thinking it was some weird bug, since they'd shut the supercomputer down and XANA was destroyed, he initially wrote it off as something that needed to be fixed. It wasn't until now that the warriors realized it was the real deal all over again.

"It's almost like that time everyone became catatonic from that one MP3 download," Ulrich said aloud, more to himself than anyone. "This is weird, even for XANA."

Odd did a one-eighty and sped off toward the dorm to get his phone, without so much as another word.

"Find William!" Aelita shouted after him.

"Hey!"

The shouting came from Sissi. They saw her up ahead near the tree line, waving her arms at them to get their attention.

"Where the hell are you going now?" she shouted. "It's almost curfew!"

"No time to explain!" Ulrich said, speeding past her.

Sissi stood her ground. She placed her hands on her hips, and turned to face them. "If you don't tell me what it is you're doing, I'll tell both Jim _and_ my father that you're all sneaking out when you're supposed to be in your rooms!"

"How do you think they'll react when we tell them you were doing the exact same thing?" Giana argued.

Ulrich and Aelita stopped short in their tracks, and gaped at the her. Even though the two girls were now permanent members of the group, Giana hadn't nearly been around long enough to realize that Sissi didn't take kindly to blackmail, regardless of how she'd used it against them in the past. Ulrich was painfully reminded of her stealing his diary on the day that they almost got blown up from the XANAfied bus nearly driving them into the petrochemical plant.

"What do we have to lose?" Not only was Aelita being sarcastic, but it was obvious to everyone that it was a rhetorical question. "You'll both forget everything once we do a return to the past."

"A _what_?" the girls stammered.

At that moment, the rest of the campus suffered a power outage. They were in pitch darkness, save for the light of the quarter moon.

* * *

The four of them made their way through the sewers and to the factory as quickly as they could. Having moved the skateboards and scooters at the end of the previous school year, they had no mode of transportation; instead, they walked. And Sissi complained about it the entire way from the park to the bridge.

It wasn't until they got out from the sewers that she stopped short. A thousand memories vied for space in her head at once: Kissing Ulrich as they sat on the bridge. Following him down into the lab when they were with that movie director two years ago. Jeremie, sitting at a command module, typing. Getting Kiwi to lead Yumi's parents, her father, and Jim to the factory. Threatening the group to go to the authorities on multiple occasions about the lab. Watching Ulrich and Yumi get strangled by an alien. Kissing Ulrich on the bridge…

"This is just like in the dreams I keep having," she breathed.

"What?" Aelita sputtered. "What dreams?"

"I'm here, on the bridge," Sissi explained. "In one of them, Ulrich and I kissed. In another, I'm in a lab or something lit by a green light – most of the time Jeremie's at some sort of command module thing, but one time Ulrich was there too." She paused, a look of realization slowly dawning on her face. "They're not dreams at all, are they? They're repressed memories!"

"Huh?" Ulrich hadn't known what to say. By that point, they were entering the factory, running down the side stairs instead of the ropes.

"Impossible," Aelita said curtly. "There are tons of safeguards in place during the return trip sequence. _No one_ can bypass it unless they go to Lyoko–"

"Well, obviously, those checks you say you have in place need to be updated or something! I know what I saw!" Sissi exclaimed.

"There's no cell reception!" Giana interjected. She held up her phone, and in the top left it did indeed say "No Service" where the bars would normally be.

The rest of them pulled out their phones to be greeted with the same scenario.

"Well, this is great," Sissi said sarcastically. "Now what are we supposed to do if we need to call the police or something?"

Aelita gritted her teeth. "We don't need to get the authorities involved! Now come on, we're wasting time!"

They piled into the elevator. After Aelita entered the lab's access code, she pushed the big, red button, and they descended into the underground command base that the Lyoko warriors had called their second home for the last three or so years.


	3. Chapter III

**Chapter III**

* * *

Jeremie could've spent hours, maybe even days, berating Ulrich and Aelita for bringing Sissi and Giana to the factory. But they had more pressing matters to attend to.

They stepped into the lab. Sissi went slack-jawed, and Giana was sputtering something in English that none of them could understand.

"Are we on candid camera?" she finally asked, crossing her arms. She'd switched back to speaking French. "Is this all some elaborate joke?"

"No jokes, no cameras," Jeremie replied, curt. "This is real life, and extremely dangerous."

Wordlessly, Aelita and Ulrich left for the scanners. Jeremie queued their data up in the system as he waited for them to be ready.

"If this thing is so dangerous," Giana continued, "why don't you just shut it down? Or unplug it?"

He sat back, but didn't look at them. The girls had moved to sit next to each other against the wall, near the ladder that served as an alternate passage connecting the lab, the scanners, and the supercomputer.

"We did shut it off," he said. "But then we wanted to learn more about its inner workings. Why was the supercomputer here, of all places? Where did it come from? Well, we know that: Aelita's father built it and created Lyoko as a refuge for him and his family. He was trying to use it as a weapon to fight back against Project Carthage, which was a government project he was involved in before fleeing to France. But then XANA…" he trailed off. "Well, we defeated XANA. Or, so we thought. Aelita's father is dead. Her mother was kidnapped by the Men in Black some time ago – those same men had come to take Aelita and her father away, only they managed to escape. And, here we are."

"So, she's not Odd's cousin."

It was the first time Sissi had spoken since they set foot in the lab. On their way, Aelita had debriefed Jeremie on her recurring nightmares that were actually repressed memories from the returns to the past. He was trying to call up the RTTP code in the system, but there were too many back doors and dead ends that greeted him. It was like he hadn't had the proper administration rights to access them, until he found another way in.

He simply nodded.

"Where did Ulrich and Aelita go?" Giana asked, changing the topic. "You said something about a place called Lyoko. Is that in the factory, too?"

He remained silent.

"As soon as they get the cell towers working again, I'm calling the police," she threatened.

Jeremie immediately stood from his chair and turned to face them.

"Okay," he started, "do you really want to know what's going on? Odd, Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, and William are all virtualized on to Lyoko. They have to fight through monsters and Aelita has to go deactivate a tower. That's what stops XANA's attacks. Then we usually do a return to the past to reverse any extreme damage. Only, XANA is dead. We made sure of that."

"I feel like I'm in a bad James Bond movie," she muttered. Sissi nodded in agreement.

"XANA can't really be gone, though," Sissi said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have to do all this again. Are you sure you guys defeated it?"

Jeremie started pacing. "Yes, I'm positive! We destroyed all the Replikas, and shut down the supercomputer. He's definitely gone."

It was then that they heard Ulrich's shouting, coming in the direction of the computer. It must've been pretty loud, because Jeremie had his headset plugged in.

"What is it?" he asked. "What?! No, we can't– They're back at the school, and you know all the phone signals are blocked– That's _insane_ , I'm not doing it!"

"What's going on?" Sissi asked.

"XANA sent way too many monsters out to get them. They can't find a clear path to get to the tower."

"Why don't we go?" Giana suggested.

Jeremie let out a sarcastic laugh. "No way! We'll just have to find a way to contact the others."

"Jeremie, you just said it yourself: The cell towers are down. There's no way to get in touch with them. Sure, they might eventually get here, but you have no way of knowing that. If it's a life-or-death situation, we're volunteering to help." She paused, putting her messenger bag on the floor. "Plus, Sissi's apparently immune to the time traveling you guys do, in case you forgot."

"She's right, Jeremie," Sissi said. "What could it hurt?"

"You're both too inexperienced! There's no way –" He was cut off by Aelita protesting loudly into his headset. "Fine. Head downstairs. I'll let you know when I'm ready to start the transfer process."

* * *

"This is exciting," Giana said. "Right?"

Sissi tried to mask it, but she was an absolute wreck. She was shaking, and very much ready to bolt right out of there. But she figured that, if she helped them, at least she'd get some more answers. Maybe she'd gain some more acceptance into their group.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "Real exciting."

"Alright, step into the scanners," Jeremie said. "I hope neither of you are claustrophobic."

They complied, Sissi still shaking with every step she took. The cabin doors slid shut, blocking off their view of the rest of the room.

Giana sent up a quick prayer to whoever would listen and asked them to not kill her.

"Transfer, Giana," Jeremie said.

She could hear her heart beating in her ears. She felt as if she was going to pass out, leaning against the inside of the scanner for support.

"Transfer, Sissi."

Sissi couldn't stop shaking. She desperately wanted to get out of that scanner. But no matter how hard she willed herself to, she couldn't move. She was planted there, in a small space, motionless, shell-shocked.

"Scanner, Giana."

Giana closed her eyes. A blinding white halo of light scanned her up and down, and a rush of wind picked up her hair so it almost stood on end. She tried to take a deep, calming breath.

Maybe she wouldn't die.

"Scanner, Sissi."

Sissi was trying not to bite her nails, as awful a habit it was. She saw her life flashing before her eyes as a pillar of light scanned her. Her hair flew upwards in a rush of wind. Her stomach did somersaults and she was afraid she might vomit.

"Virtualization."

The next time they opened their eyes, they were greeted by a blinding orange light. They virtualized roughly ten or fifteen feet in the air, and landed not so gracefully.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," Giana said. She looked around at the vast desert landscape. "Whoa."

Sissi took another deep breath. She looked down at her clothes and inwardly beamed. She was now dressed like a queen, with long, salmon-colored robes, a high-collared cape, and she even felt a small tiara on her head. She lifted the cape draped around her shoulders and saw that, underneath, the inner workings of her outfit were white. She had long, salmon, fingerless gloves that went up past her elbows.

She felt a sheath on her side and noticed a long staff. Pulling it out, she noticed it was almost as tall as she, with an intricate, dark burgundy heart at the top. The staff was silver, with a vine woven up and down its length the same color as her robes.

"I always knew I was meant to be a queen," she said, smiling.

"You're full of yourself," Giana muttered.

She turned to face her companion. Unlike Sissi, whose hair was left down with the tiara placed on top, Giana's hair was braided back, out of her face. Her outfit was form-fitting, made out of a spandex-looking material, colored a dark burgundy with black accents. She had on a black belt and flat ankle boots. There was a small, black pack clipped to her belt. She also wore black fingerless gloves.

Giana reached into the pack on her hip and produced a small, iridescent ball, about the size of a baseball. It shimmered when it touched the light. "What, am I a Pokémon trainer now?" she scoffed.

"The Lyoko avatars take your subconscious and project it into the program," Jeremie explained. "The others are due west of your location."

They took off running. There were no smells, no feeling of exhaustion; Sissi couldn't even feel how nauseous she was from when she'd entered the scanner. They seemed to only have their sight and hearing to rely on.

"This is really disorienting," she said. She put her staff back in its sheath.

Eventually they reached the mass chaos of Ulrich and Aelita, surrounded by at least twenty Bloks. Ulrich was being pulverized by their lasers, but he was able to deflect a few of them. There were just too many.

"Ulrich!" Sissi shrieked. She extended her staff, a beam of white light emanating from the intricate heart on top. It shot straight at him.

"Sissi, I know you're new," Aelita started evenly, casting an Energy Field at a nearby Blok, "but you're supposed to aim your weapon at the _monsters_ , not us!"

"Ulrich, your life points are regenerating!" Jeremie exclaimed. "Sissi's healing you!" He paused. "According to my screen, there's a thirty-minute cooldown period between uses of her powers."

"That's not incredibly useful," Sissi deadpanned.

"Yeah, it is," Ulrich said. "Thanks!" He lodged a katana into the XANA symbol of a Blok that was approaching from behind.

Giana threw a ball at a Blok and missed, instead watching it explode as soon as it hit the terrain.

She gritted her teeth. "Damn it!"

"This is a really weird XANA attack," Aelita said off-handedly.

Five Bloks surrounded Giana. Sissi saw it out of the corner of her eye, but not before she was able to lodge her staff into a Blok to her left was she able to try and assist.

They readied their lasers and fired together. The impact of the blast was so bad, that it immediately wiped out Giana's remaining life points. She disintegrated into a mishmash of blue and white pixels.

* * *

A scanner opened back at the factory at the same time William sauntered out of the elevator. He stopped in his tracks as the steam cleared, and he saw her sitting at the bottom of the cylinder. She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her head against the back of the scanner, looking up. She was as white as a ghost.

"I keep willing my muscles to move," Giana said in a small voice. "But I can't."

William quickened his pace and took her hand to help her up.

"Hey, is everything alright down there?" they heard Jeremie ask. "William, are you ready yet?"

"Hold on," he said. He lowered his voice and looked at the new girl. "Are you alright?"

"How did you get here?" she asked.

"The cell towers came back up and I had ten messages from Jeremie, asking for backup," he explained. He was still staring at her. "Can you walk?"

She took a shaky step out of the scanner and practically collapsed right into him. He put an arm around her and they walked slowly, leaning against each other, to the elevator.

"Don't worry," he started as he pushed the red button to bring them back up. "It'll pass. We've all been victims of nasty devirtualizations. Give it maybe a half hour, considering it was your first time going and all."

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"At least some of the color's starting to return to your face," he joked. "Am I that charming?"

She simply rolled her eyes.

The secure mechanism in front of the door opened to greet them with the lab. Jeremie opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when he saw the state of their arrival.

Giana sat down against the wall behind him, in the same spot she and Sissi had occupied earlier. She grabbed her reusable water bottle from her bag and took a sip. It was about half-full, but she didn't have the stomach for anything else at that point.

She looked up at William, who was still standing next to her, eyeing her inquisitively.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'll be fine, thanks," she answered. "You should go."

He turned on his heel and walked back to the elevator, heading back down to the scanners.

"Alright," Jeremie said. He turned around to face her. "Was it really that bad?"

"What?" She arched an eyebrow.

"Being devirtualized," he clarified. "You were pulverized by those Bloks. I mean, I've seen some pretty nasty devirtualizations in the past, but I've never noticed anyone to come back so weak."

"I'm fine," she said curtly. "Like William said, it's probably just because I'm new. I'm sure the next time I go, that the landing won't be as bad."

He changed topic, putting his headset back on. "I finally found the piece of code in the return to the past process that deals with exclusions and affecting the memories of those who haven't been to Lyoko." He paused. "This is going to need a major overhaul; we don't need more people experiencing déjà vu."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Not likely," he said dismissively. "I'm mean, I'm sure Aelita and I can figure this out, but it's probably going to take a while. The brunt of the RTTP code will need to be rewritten."

"What happens when she deactivates a tower? Is the person possessed by XANA affected at all?"

"Well, as soon as the LYOKO code is entered into an activated tower, whatever attack XANA is initiating is immediately put to a halt, as he disappears. Whoever is possessed doesn't have any memory of what happened, and their body is simply left alone. Your dog will be fine, so don't worry about that. XANA never really causes harm to whomever he possesses, only to us and whoever else tries to get in his way."

After that, she was silent. She didn't know how much time had passed until Jeremie announced that Aelita had deactivated the tower. It took a few minutes for the rest of them to return from the scanner room. Sissi's shakiness from before the virtualization process hadn't gone away. She wasn't taking the devirtualization well either.

Shortly thereafter, Yumi and Odd showed up. Jeremie got everyone up to speed regarding the bugs in the RTTP program.

"I'm going to do a return to the past this time, but I think we should hold off on them as much as we can for now," Jeremie said. They all nodded in agreement. "I don't want anything else to get through this code; we really need to rebuild this."

"I definitely think it's important," Ulrich started, "but you shouldn't completely dedicate yourselves to it at this point. We've been free of XANA for four months; I'm not ready to jump back into this again."

"There's one more thing," Jeremie said. "I did a sweep and was able to find fragments of XANA, all over the net."


	4. Chapter IV

**Chapter IV**

* * *

They were in the gymnasium. Yumi was wearing her usual athletic attire: A cropped, black hoodie and sweatpants, both with pale pink accents. She had a new pair of running shoes. She faced Giana, who stood before her in a pair of black yoga pants and her own new pair of running shoes – they were dark grey with bright pink spotted here and there. A black sports bra could be seen under a dark purple athletic tank top.

They bowed.

Circling each other with their posture on-guard, Yumi thought to throw the first punch. The other girl blocked her deftly. She'd braided her hair back like her Lyoko avatar, to avoid it flying into her face and obstructing her view.

She placed a high kick to Yumi's face, which was quickly blocked. The taller girl took her foot and twisted it in the right direction to flip her over. She fell to the mat, landing on her back with a soft thud.

Across the room, Vega let out a whimper. Her leash was clipped to the side of the bleachers. She thumped her tail.

"You were lucky," Giana mumbled. Yumi offered a hand to help her up. She accepted.

"Luck had nothing to do with it," she replied. "It's all in the training."

The younger girl nodded. "How long have you been training?"

"As long as I can remember." She blew a strand of hair out of her face "It's really important to me to know how to defend myself." She paused. "My family kind of thinks it's weird."

"I get that. My dad's super overprotective – honestly, I'm still a little surprised he was even okay with me going to school here." She wiped a hand across her brow. "But, my mom convinced him, what with her having gone here and my grandparents living close by–"

It was then that Yumi threw a punch to her sternum. Giana let out an _oof_ , but recovered quickly. She grabbed ahold of Yumi's arm, twisting it to bend behind her back.

Somehow, the older girl managed to shake free, and she landed a low kick to bring her opponent's feet out from under her.

She jumped at the last moment, missing it.

"How long have _you_ been training?" Yumi asked.

"Since I was eight," Giana replied, smiling. "I had to put it on hold once I came here, obviously."

"You should come to the Pencak Silat classes Jim teaches every week. It's only a small group of us, but he loves it when new people show interest. In fact–"

Giana cut her off with a swift uppercut to the jaw. Yumi stumbled back, but regained her balance in time to jab her opponent in the side. Narrowing her eyes, Yumi landed a swift high kick to the shoulder, catching Giana off guard. However, the younger girl was able to spin around and sweep Yumi off her feet, sending her to the mat. She landed on her back.

"I will. Thanks."

She took the brunette's offered hand to help her up, and they bowed to each other once more. "I've gotta head home," she said. "It's getting late."

Giana took a sip from her water bottle and unclipped Vega's leash from the bleachers. The dog got up and shook herself off. "Yeah. I should probably go shower before dinner."

They exited the gym and walked together to the courtyard, until they split off and said goodbye. While Yumi headed toward the front gate with her book bag, Giana told Vega to find the door to the dorm.

She praised her for placing her nose against the frame, and shouldered it open. The building was quiet. They headed up to the girls' floor unnoticed.

* * *

Later that night, Giana stood in front of Jeremie's door. Vega was at her side, on her leash – she had chosen to leave the harness in her room, as the guide dog training the black lab had gone through included leash guiding.

She knocked three times and, after hearing a muffled "Come in", she opened the door.

He was seated at his computer, as per usual. Aelita was sitting next to him in another chair. She turned and smiled when she saw them. "Hey."

"Hi." She took a deep breath. "I want to go back. To Lyoko."

Jeremie whipped around in his chair, a mixed look of horror and disbelief all over his face. Of course, Giana couldn't see it, but she rolled her eyes anyway.

"You want to go _back_?" he sputtered. "Why?"

"I'm never going to defeat those monsters unless I practice more." Crossing her arms, she directed Vega to lie down. "Don't tell me that you were all a well-oiled machine when you first started fighting XANA."

Aelita giggled.

"Actually, quite the opposite," Jeremie said bluntly. "It was a total train wreck." He paused, taking a sip from a water bottle. "But that doesn't mean you can just be virtualized any time you feel like it and start fighting."

"Plus, the monsters never really show up unless there's a XANA attack," Aelita added. "And it's one thing to learn how to fight on Lyoko; you should have some self-defense training in this world, too. More often than not, XANA will either possess someone or send a polymorphic specter out to hurt us, and they're terribly hard to defeat on wit alone."

"I've had eight years of martial arts training," she protested. Vega stood up and rested her snout on Jeremie's bed for Giana to sit down. She did; the dog took her place beside her. "You should've seen Yumi and I sparring earlier. Trust me. I'm a lot more intimidating than I look."

"I'm sure that's true, but I don't know if I want to risk it," Jeremie said. "And, before you say anything, I already had this exact same conversation with Sissi. You don't get better at doing this overnight; it could take weeks or months to perfect your combat skills on Lyoko."

"So, the answer is still no."

"Yes," Jeremie nodded.

"Even though I can fight in the real world?"

"Yes."

"How do you expect Sissi and I to learn if you won't let us practice?" Her eyes widened. "You don't trust us, do you?"

"We _do_ ," Jeremie answered, trying to sound earnest. "Obviously, otherwise we wouldn't have virtualized you in the first place." He paused, tapping his finger on his chin. "We'll let you both go in as backup. We'll have a trial period. If things go well, then you can be moved into rotation with everyone else."

She relaxed a little. "Fine. Next time there's a XANA attack, we're going to show those Bloks who's boss."

She got up and told Vega to take her "outside," closing the door behind them.

"Why didn't you tell her there's more than one type of monster?" Aelita asked. "They're in for a rude awakening the next time they go in."

"It's not important," he answered dismissively. "But I think my plan works well, don't you?" he asked.

Aelita gave him a look.

"It's not because of her vision," he said quickly.

She crossed her arms. "This could all blow up in our face, and you know it."

"Let's just test it."

"You should probably tell Sissi she's not going to be the star of the show."

"Sissi's a little more important," he admitted. "She can heal."

* * *

William was headed to Jeremie's room to discuss the latest finds of XANA's fragments. But, on the way, he ran into Giana and her dog.

 _What's the dog's name?_ he asked himself. _Vegas, or something?_

"Hi, Giana," he greeted.

She mumbled a hello as she walked past.

"Hey," he said. "What's wrong?"

She stopped and turned around, telling Vega to sit. "Jeremie wants Sissi and I to play backup on Lyoko. He's too paranoid to let us go out and fight like the rest of you."

He did a quick look around to make sure no one was coming their way. "Care to step into my room so we can talk in private? I was new to the group once. It was…" _Terrible. Nightmare-inducing. An experience that led me to lose almost a year of my life._ "A lot."

"I was actually going to let Vega out," she said. "Odd's meeting me with Kiwi so we can get it done before curfew. Give me like, ten or fifteen minutes so I can do that and put her back up in my room for the night."

 _Vega! Of course! That's the dog's name!_ "Alright."

She smiled and turned back around to head out the double doors. Before they closed behind her, he could see Odd near the stairwell, his backpack wiggling. He thought it was a miracle Jim hadn't found out about Kiwi yet.

He continued to Jeremie's room, though, barging in without knocking. He figured that even though he knew Aelita was in there too, they were still so awkward around each other that they spent all of their alone time stuck on the XANA thing.

Just as he thought: The boy was at his computer, Aelita sitting next to him. They were both oblivious to the fact that he even let himself in. He shut the door loudly, jolting the girl to attention. Jeremie still had his eyes on the screen.

"I want to talk about XANA," he said.

"You're the third person to come in here who wants to talk about either that or Lyoko," Jeremie said, weary. He opened another window of code. "Go ahead."

He realized he didn't actually have anything prepared. Rather than look like an idiot, he simply sighed and decided now was the time to tell them. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "I think I can help you find all of his pieces."

"Sure," Jeremie said sarcastically. "You got a virtual homing device or something?"

"I'm serious."

They both turned around to look at him.

"After being possessed for so long," he started, "I realized XANA left me some special abilities." He stood up. "Move over."

They complied. William took the rolling chair and sat in front of the computer, typing at a superhuman speed, pulling up all kinds of code and breaking through multiple firewalls and encryptions that the duo hadn't even come across yet. Jeremie's face went slack with disbelief, while Aelita arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"I've retained XANA's infinite knowledge of technology, the net, and the supercomputer infrastructure," William explained, not bothering to look at them. "I didn't want to say anything at first, because I wasn't sure if it would turn out to be useful." He paused. "Apparently, it is."

They gaped as his fingers continued to fly deftly across the keyboard. He called up a more intricate piece of code concerning the return process. He stood up and stepped back so they could take a look.

"You're going to have to go to the lab for this," he told them. "There are more backdoors and hidden features in the programs that can't be accessed here." He stretched. "Also, and I know you can do this: Edit Giana's Lyoko avatar to give her a better weapon."

A sly smile spread across Aelita's face. Jeremie was nonplussed, reclaiming his seat at the computer.

"And why would I do that?" he countered.

William glared. "She's one of us now. She can fight. Use that to your advantage."

He turned and left, not bothering to close the door behind him.

Aelita got up to shut and lock it. "He's right," she said. "Giana is just as much a part of this as Sissi and the rest of us. Concerning they're already in this deep, there's no need to treat them like they're fragile." She paused. "It's like I said yesterday, Jeremie: When we kept William on a need-to-know basis, that blew up in our face and he was trapped for almost a year. I liked the idea of using them as backup at first. But, thinking more about it, I don't think we can risk it. We can't make any more mistakes."

"We're running out of time!" he exclaimed. He stood up and closed the distance between them. "You don't seriously want to fight XANA for the rest of your life, do you?"

Her shoulders slumped. She let out a breath.

He took her hands in his.

"I've been through so much," she said. "I was trapped. I lost ten years of my life because my father tried to save me. And, for what? For him to die at the hands of an artificial intelligence? We still don't know where my mother is, or if she's even _alive_." She let go of his hands and sat down on the edge of his bed. "I'm very fortunate that your parents have treated me so well. Odd's, too – he told them an abridged version of my current situation and they've been willing to act as extended family where school's concerned." Tears welled in her eyes. "I just thought we left all this Lyoko stuff behind. I thought XANA was gone for good."

He sat down and wrapped an arm around her as she leaned into his chest and started to cry. "I thought we did too." He swallowed, using his free hand to adjust his glasses. "As soon as we defeat him, we'll get to work on finding your mother. I promise."

She sat up straighter, sniffling, and wiped away her tears. "Thank you."

He small smile crept at the corners of his mouth, but then he faltered. "As much as I hate to admit it, William's newfound ability might be one of the best things we've got in terms of a weapon in this world. We'll have to work together." He let out a breath. "And, maybe you can help me design a new weapon for Giana?"

Aelita smiled. "I think she'd like that."

They kissed. It was long and deep, a stark contrast to the short, quick pecks they gave each other in public.

Suddenly, Jeremie was glad Aelita had locked the door.

* * *

Giana returned to her room, shutting the door. Unclipping Vega's leash, she hung it up on the set of hooks where her coat and the dog's harness were. "Go to your place," she told her. The lab happily obliged.

There was a knock. Standing in front of the mirror, putting her hair back into a low ponytail, she told whoever it was to come in.

It was Sissi.

"Hey. What's up?" she greeted.

She walked into the room and shut the door. "Did you talk to Jeremie?"

"Yeah, and it could've been better." She opened up her closet and dug through some shoes and bags until she found her folding cane. "I don't know why he's being so paranoid; they just gained two more warriors and he basically wants to keep us out as benchwarmers." She made a face. "They want us to play _backup_."

Sissi scoffed. "Jeremie's always paranoid. He's been like that for as long as I've known him." She paused. "Of course, now I know why, what with all this XANA nonsense." She leaned against the door and crossed her arms. "I just wish they'd take us more seriously."

"He said you spoke to him, too. How'd that go?"

"About as well as you'd expect." Sissi finally looked at her. "Where are you going?"

"William wanted to talk to me about something, I don't know," she answered. She tapped the screen of her smart watch. A soft voice announced that it was quarter past ten. "I should go."

Sissi smirked. "Have fun."


	5. Chapter V

**Chapter V**

* * *

She walked down the boys' hall quietly. Her cane swept from side to side, creating a nice arc between her and the few people still milling about before curfew. Stopping at a door near the end, she only knocked twice before William opened it.

"Hey," she said. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah," he answered in English. He moved aside and gestured for her to come in. She complied, and he quietly closed the door behind her.

"So, what's up?" she asked, also in English.

He sat at his desk chair and gestured for her to sit at the edge of his bed. She did, and folded her cane, putting it on the floor beside her feet.

He bit his lip. "Look. I was kind of a pariah at first."

She stared at him.

"With the others," he clarified.

"I get that," she said. "I've always had trouble fitting in. But not here."

"See, that's just it." He wanted to move to sit next to her, but stayed put. "I really liked Yumi, and I was desperate to get close to her. Hell, at one point I even conspired with Sissi – she had a massive crush on Ulrich, but it was always unrequited on his end. Anyway," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Eventually I was allowed into the group. They needed someone else to fight; I guess the whole battle against XANA had gotten to a point where they weren't able to contain it with just the five of them. So, I swore I'd keep their secret, and then I was virtualized.

"It didn't exactly go as planned. I was arrogant. I got into trouble." He swallowed. "I was in over my head and I didn't want to admit it." He figured it was better for both their sakes, to only tell her the abridged version for the time being. "I did a lot of terrible things. I hurt them. And ever since then, I've had a lot of trouble accepting what happened."

"Do you think they're still holding what you did against you?"

"Jeremie said they all talked or something, and supposedly everyone's fine. But I still have doubts."

"I mean, why would they lie to you?" She tucked a lock of hair that escaped her ponytail back behind her ear. "If you're still unsure, maybe try talking to them again. Ask Jeremie. I think you just need some reassurance."

He smiled. "That's a good idea. Thanks."

She decided to change the topic. "What are your plans for the upcoming vacation?"

"I'll probably stay here," he said. "Both of my parents are too busy working, so it wouldn't exactly be fun. Plus, I figure if there's an attack, there will be one extra person here to hold things down. What about you?"

"My parents were this close to buying me a plane ticket home," she held up her fingers together to show just how close. "But I declined – the break doesn't line up with my brother's or my friends'. My grandparents live about fifteen minutes away, though, and they wanted me to stay with them. But I haven't made a decision yet. I might just stay here too."

"I'd like that."

She smiled.

"How come you haven't been going to Lyoko? Jeremie's had a rotation chart going for every time there's an attack, and aside from Sissi and I being used as backup, I noticed you haven't been going."

He averted his gaze, not that she noticed. He didn't really want to tell her the truth.

Her face fell. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business. You don't have to answer."

"No, it's fine." He gave her a sad smile. "I don't really want to talk about it."

He studied her. She was cute, with her hair pulled back like that. He liked it when she smiled. He'd heard about the sparring match that had taken place earlier that day, how she and Yumi were just as good a match as Yumi and Ulrich. He wanted to say something, to tell her how pretty he thought she was, but instead he bit his tongue in protest.

She looked down at her smart watch. "I should probably go. I have some homework to finish up."

They stood at the same time, and she unfolded her cane. He went to the door and opened it, holding his arm out in a grandiose gesture.

"Safe travels back upstairs," he said, smirking.

She laughed. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."

"Good night."

Like an idiot, he leaned down and kissed her. It didn't last long.

She took a step back, wearing an expression of hurt and anger. Then she slapped him across the face so hard, his head turned to the side and his body practically went along with it. Turning on her heel, she walked back upstairs to her room quickly, but not so quick that she was running.

He shut the door to his room and kicked the built-in drawers under his bed. Letting out an anguished sigh, he fished the handle of vodka out from behind his skateboard, at the back of his closet. He opened it and took a shot.

* * *

"Jeremie, you've been in here for two days. People at school are starting to ask questions."

The blonde turned to face Ulrich and Odd, who were standing in front of the elevator's secure mechanism. Jeremie had only gone back to the school for bathroom breaks and to grab some food from the cafeteria, but he hadn't gotten much of anything done in the way of sleep.

However, he had made a small breakthrough with the return to the past code regarding its rules and exceptions. But that still wasn't good enough.

"Go take a nap or a relaxing shower or something, Einstein," Odd said. "The lab isn't going anywhere."

He turned back to the monitors. "You guys don't understand: We've been fighting this war for three years. I had a breakthrough with the RTTP code thanks to William – but, beyond that, I'm stumped. He said he could help us track down the rest of XANA's fragments in the net, but with both the Skid and my multi-agent program destroyed, we're kind of helpless."

"Do you want me to text him so he can come down here and help you?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremie sighed. "I hate to admit it, but that might be a good idea. See if you can get Aelita, too."

They nodded. "William hasn't been too happy the last couple of days," Ulrich said offhandedly, pulling out his phone.

"Yeah," Odd said, sending Aelita a message. "He kissed Giana or something, and she got really mad and beat him up!"

Ulrich glared. "She just slapped him across the face, doofus."

"Well," Jeremie said, chuckling, "maybe he can focus his energy on helping me instead of sulking."

Ulrich's phone chimed. "He said he's on his way."

"Aelita, too," Odd added. "She just has to shake Milly and Tamiya. I guess she's in the library helping them with something for the paper."

Jeremie smiled. "Good."

"Do you need anything else?" Ulrich asked.

He let out an agitated sigh. "Time."

* * *

Odd and Ulrich left, but the elevator opened fifteen minutes later to show William and Aelita. William wore a troubled expression, while Aelita had her arms crossed.

"You should take a nap, Jeremie," she said.

"That's exactly what Odd said," he answered, letting out a breath. "And, you both may be right. I've been awake for two days straight."

"Let William and I take over," she suggested, placing a hand on his arm. "Go back to school. Try to relax."

He stood from the console and stretched, stifling a yawn. "Okay," he said, walking toward the elevator. "Let me know if I can do anything."

She kissed him. "We'll be fine. Go."

He complied, grabbing his backpack. The elevator opened and he pressed the red button to bring him back up to the main level.

"So," William said. "What are we doing?"

"Well," she started, taking Jeremie's seat, "he seems to have made very good progress with determining why the return trips haven't been completely wiping peoples' memories. Actually, with your help, I think he determined why it was happening in the first place. From this standpoint, it looks like it's fixed." She paused, drumming her fingers on the chair's armrest. "However, I think we should test it. We need a guinea pig."

William opened his mouth to protest, but promptly shut it. In truth, she wasn't wrong: They could easily get Hervé or Nicholas, or even Milly and Tamiya, to come to the factory, see everything, and then do a quick return trip to see if it affected them properly.

"I think we should go with Jim," she said.

He stared at her. "Have you lost your freaking mind?"

"It is crazy," she agreed, typing some commands into the console, "but it's our best option. If you think about it, Jim and Sissi have had similar exposures to the factory and they've both learned about Lyoko on more than one occasion. He's the perfect test subject."

"I think you need to tell Jeremie." He reached into his pocket and produced his phone. "Or, better yet, I'll do it."

She shot him a death glare. "Tell him, and I'll make Giana's slap across your face look like child's play."

Glowering, he stuffed his phone back in his pocket. "Fine. But I don't think we should be going behind his back."

"Jeremie's stubborn," she said curtly. "He'll disagree in a heartbeat, trust me." She opened up a new window of code, this time focusing on the botched multi-agent program they'd used to destroy the Replikas. She turned to face him. "Do you think we could rebuild this?"

"Of course," he said. "It'll be easy."

"Good." She stood up. "You start that, and I'll go get Jim."

"We're doing that _now_?"

"Yes," she answered coolly. "Trust me, William. It'll work."

He shook his head, climbing into the chair at the computer. "Whatever."

* * *

"Stones!"

 _Perfect,_ Aelita thought. She smiled. "Yes, Jim?"

"Why aren't you on your way to dinner with the rest of the student body?"

"Oh, well, you see," she started, holding his gaze, "there's a problem with William. He's hurt." She took off running back toward the manhole cover in the park. "Come with me!"

Bewildered, Jim decided it was best to follow her. Maybe he could use some of the first aid knowledge he'd acquired when he was training to be a paramedic.

"Why are you leading me down into the sewers?" he bellowed, practically slipping and falling as he let go of the last rung on the ladder.

"We were looking for some parts to build a robot at the abandoned factory," she lied. "A piece of machinery must've malfunctioned or something. He fell and hurt himself pretty bad."

"Why didn't you call emergency services?"

"It's not _that_ bad – just bad enough to warrant a trip to the infirmary."

Jim thought she was totally bullshitting him, but he chose to ignore it.

Eventually, they got to the factory.

"Where is he?" he asked.

"Down there." She pointed to the elevator. "Follow me."

She punched in the lab's access code, and they rode down in silence. Eventually, the doors and secure mechanism opened to reveal William, perfectly fine, sitting at the supercomputer terminal.

"Hey, Jim," he said casually.

"Dunbar," Jim started, "you and Stones have _a lot_ of explaining to do."

"Don't worry, Jim," he said. "You won't remember a thing." _Hopefully._ "Return to the past, now."


	6. Chapter VI

**Chapter VI**

* * *

"What the hell were you two thinking?!"

Of course, Jeremie had called an emergency meeting to his room as soon as everyone realized a return trip had been initiated. The group remained silent as he continued to berate Aelita and William.

"You _know_ what happens when we do a return to the past," he said, crossing his arms. "XANA's strength doubles. And, what's more, I can't even _believe_ that either of you thought it was a brilliant idea to take Jim to the lab!"

Aelita stood, glowering. "We had to test the program on _someone_! Jim and Sissi are the only people who have been directly exposed to the lab on multiple occasions. We didn't have any other option." She placed her hands on her hips. "Thanks to William's help, you seemed to have fixed the holes in the code for the RTTP program – can't you _at least_ be happy about it? Now we won't have to deal with more people having déjà vu!"

Jeremie turned red with anger. "You should have come to me first."

"You hadn't slept in two days," William interjected. "No offense, but you weren't exactly in the right mind to help us make that decision."

"Plus, it worked," Aelita continued. "I spoke to Jim earlier and asked him if he heard of a secret underground lab, or a virtual world called Lyoko. He told me to stop reading so much manga."

"At least he didn't accuse you of reading too many Japanese mangoes," Yumi chimed in. Everyone laughed, save for Jeremie.

"I can't believe you went behind my back," he said.

"Jeremie, it's done. Get over it." William stood up to face him. "There's something more important, though: We can salvage the multi-agent program you used to destroy the Replikas. With a few tweaks, we should be able to code it so it can pull the rest of XANA's fragments out from the internet and dispose of them."

"How long do you think that'll take?" Ulrich asked. "I mean, XANA's been pretty quiet for the most part, other than the occasional specter."

"If we work diligently," Aelita started, "I'd say we could have it done before Christmas."

Everyone started speaking at once.

"That long?!"

"I don't know if I can keep doing this."

"We already fought for three years, this is ridiculous!"

"This was supposed to be over as soon as we shut down the supercomputer!"

"This is bullshit!"

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

Everyone turned to Giana, who sat quietly on the floor with her back against the side of Jeremie's bed. Vega was curled into a ball beside her, the harness removed and laying on her other side.

"I mean," she continued, "I know we can't exactly code, but maybe just be super aware of our surroundings or something?" She stood, the dog lifting her head wearily. "Maybe, Sissi and I can finally be taken seriously and get off backup duty?"

Jeremie held her gaze. He shifted his weight, and uncrossed his arms.

"Alright," he said. "The more of you who can fight, the better."

The bell rang for dinner. They filed out of Jeremie's room and headed down to the cafeteria together, in silence.

* * *

A few days had passed, and the XANA attacks were still few and far between. Giana was sitting on her bed. She looked up from her laptop to find Aelita standing in the doorway. Vega walked over and sniffed her, wagging her tail. She gave the dog a pat on the head.

"What are your plans for Toussaint?" she asked.

"My parents wanted to purchase me a plane ticket home, to Boston," she started, "but since it doesn't line up with my brother's school break, I told them it wouldn't have been worth the trouble. Plus, I didn't want to deal with the jetlag." She closed her laptop. "Then, my mémé and grand-père wanted me to stay with them. They live in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and since it's so close by, it would've been a more logical choice." She smiled. "However, I told them I'd rather be here. I figured I should stick around in case XANA rears his ugly head. Plus, my mémé is incredibly overbearing."

Aelita smiled back. "Good. Usually it's only Jeremie and I who stay during the holidays. It'll be nice to have some extra company."

"I heard Sissi and Odd are staying, too."

Aelita arched an eyebrow.

"Sissi told me she doesn't want to go to her grandparents' with her father. I guess the last time she stayed at school for Toussaint, it was really boring and she was stuck here the whole time doing math homework. She said that since her grades are better, she wants this break to be more fun, and with us staying, she figures we can all go do things together."

Aelita remembered that time. She hadn't been materialized yet, but that holiday two years prior had been when XANA attacked with the fatal purple fog.

"As for Odd, I think he just wants to stay away from his sisters."

That was typical.

"William's staying too," Aelita said offhandedly. She came into the room and sat in Giana's desk chair.

The girl raised an eyebrow and shoved her laptop away, leaning back against the wall. She gave her a pointed look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You two have been getting close."

"He kissed me and I slapped him across the face because of it. It's hardly this year's budding romance."

They laughed.

"We should go to Disneyland Paris," Aelita suggested. "Odd and I have annual passes. His parents graciously got one for me last Christmas."

"I have one, too. My grandparents would always get annual passes for my brother and I when we'd fly out to visit them for the summer. Since I'm going to school here now, they renewed it as a surprise." She faltered. "There's one more thing."

"What?"

"I got an invitation to _le Bal des Débutantes_. My grandparents are seriously on my case about attending." She wrung her hands. "They're incredibly wealthy and this is, like, the biggest opportunity ever, as _le Bal_ is invitation-only and they only select between twenty and twenty-five girls to participate."

"That doesn't sound so bad. You get to dress up like a princess and show up with a male friend to escort you, right? And then you dance and drink champagne?"

"I have to waltz. My brother and parents are even flying out for the ordeal since it's taking place over Thanksgiving weekend in the US."

"Well, you have some time to prepare, then." Aelita smiled. "I would try to stay positive about it." She paused. "Do you know who you want for your cavalier?"

"My grandmother is trying to get a Count or something. Apparently, she has a friend who said her grandson would be perfect. But I'd feel more comfortable taking someone from school."

At that moment, the door flew open, and Sissi practically fell into the room. Vega let out a bark.

"How long were you standing there?" Aelita asked suspiciously.

Sissi stood up and made a show of dusting herself off. "Enough to hear that _you_ , Giana, will be attending _le Bal_! That's probably one of the biggest honors a girl our age can receive!"

"I haven't given the committee a definite answer yet," the brunette told her. "The deadline's approaching, though."

Sissi scoffed. "Oh, _please_. A night to rub elbows with royals and gorgeous high society boys, and you can drink all you want?" She longingly stared off into space. "I'd give anything to do that."

She smirked. "Want to trade places?"

Sissi actually considered it for a moment, but shook her head. "Even though you'd be wearing heels, I'm still a bit too tall to pass as you. Plus, we look nothing alike."

She shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

"I think you should go," Sissi commanded, sitting down next to her on the bed.

"She's not wrong," Aelita offered. "It's a great opportunity."

"I'm just not into that stuff," Giana replied. "But, I guess I should go anyway. It would make my family happy at least. Plus, now I have an excuse for all those years of etiquette lessons I was forced into." She sighed, flopping on to her back. "The invitation's on my desk, if you want to look at it."

Sissi shot up and strode over to where a heavy ivory envelope was propped up against the lamp on Giana's desk. It was addressed to her in fancy cursive script, and was sent to a home in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She assumed it was her grandparents' house. It had already been torn open, so she gingerly plucked the paper from inside and read aloud:

"'Miss Giana De Luca, we are pleased to extend an invitation for you to attend this year's _le Bal des Débutantes_ , held at The Peninsula Paris. The event will take place on Saturday, November 25th. A social will be held on Friday, November 24th, to meet the other debutantes and participate in waltzing lessons. We require your RSVP, as well as the name of your cavalier, no later than Friday, October 20th. A member of the _Bal_ committee will be in touch to answer any questions or concerns. We will also need measurements to pass off to a designer for your dress and shoes.' Wow." She kept reading: "'Please arrive at The Peninsula no later than noon on the 25th to begin sessions with MAC Cosmetics and meet the designers who will present your ensemble. Best, Ophélie Renouard, _le Bal des Débutantes_ , Founder.'" She looked across the room at Giana, who was still lying on her back. "So. Who are you going with?"

"I don't know, but I better figure it out soon before I end up with a member of the royal family," she deadpanned. Vega stretched, and walked over to her owner. The black lab rested her chin on Giana's leg and started wagging her tail. "And, yes, I'm being serious: My grandparents have insane connections."

"What about William?" Aelita suggested.

She shot up. Vega took a step back. "Are you _kidding me_? I don't even know if we're on speaking terms after what happened a few days ago."

"Well, let's face it," Sissi started, "you don't really have any other options. Jeremie's too socially awkward to attend a huge event like this – no offense, Aelita." Aelita nodded in agreement. Sissi placed the invitation back in the envelope and propped it up against the desk lamp. "Odd probably wouldn't take it seriously – I mean, can you imagine him in a tux with that hair? And Ulrich wouldn't go because he's so in love with Yumi." She stood next to Aelita and leaned with her back against the desk. "Unfortunately, William's the best choice you have, at least in our friend group. That way, too, you'll both be together and can get out of there in case something weird happens."

"I hate to admit it, but she's right," Aelita said.

Giana groaned. "Alright, I'll ask him." She turned to Aelita, desperately wanting to change the topic. "How's work been going on the multi-agent program?"

The girl sighed. "Not as well as we'd anticipated. At first, William told me it would be easy to rebuilt it, but like we said in Jeremie's room, we might not have it done until Christmas. We've run into a lot of issues, though. There are tons of holes and restricted backdoors we weren't originally aware of. Jeremie's combing through my father's diary again, nitpicking it to see if there's any piece of leftover information we can use to our advantage. But I don't think he'll find anything."

"So, you're stuck," Sissi summarized.

Aelita nodded. "The program basically has to be completely retooled. Even though we used it to destroy the Replikas, having it find and destroy fragments of XANA is a completely different thing entirely. It's a lot more complex than we had anticipated, and honestly, I'm not entirely convinced we got all the Replikas. There may still be one or two out there."

"What if we could just find and destroyed them?" Giana asked.

"No, that would take way too much time. We're trying to get rid of XANA as quickly as humanly possible, but we're tired. It's daunting. Jeremie's barely slept since that first activated tower a few weeks ago." She paused. "And, it's cutting into our alone time."

"What, you don't like coding with him when you're alone?" Sissi teased, smirking.

Aelita glared. "I'm getting very frustrated."

"Well," Giana started, standing up. "I should go find William." She plucked her iPhone from its charger, and walked over to where Vega's leash and harness hung on their hooks. The dog happily stretched and walked over to her, wagging her tail as she clipped the leash to her collar and told her to "head in" to the harness, buckling it around her stomach. "I need to apologize to him and ask him to be my cavalier."

She opened the door, and the trio exited the room.

"Good luck," the girls said, smiling.

"Thanks." She shut and locked her door. "I think I might need it."


	7. Chapter VII

**Chapter VII**

* * *

William was sitting on the bench, the one they all usually occupied. He had a guitar in his lap and was tuning it idly. But really, he just wanted to get away from everyone. Although he was relieved that the bugs in the RTTP code were fixed, he was still bitter about Jeremie and the rest of them forgetting that Sissi _wasn't_ the first person to ever experience déjà vu when it came to the lab: He was.

He didn't look up as Giana approached him, though he knew it was her from the jingling of Vega's collar tags.

"Can I sit with you?" the girl asked.

He shrugged in response, taking a pick out of his pocket and strumming the guitar strings.

She sat down, telling Vega to settle at her feet. "I didn't know you played guitar."

"It's only for fun," he replied. "I haven't been doing it for that long."

She was silent for a moment. "I wanted to apologize."

He turned to look at her, the pick in his hand poised above the instrument.

"I shouldn't have reacted that way when you kissed me."

"No, don't," he said simply. "I was out of line. I shouldn't have done it. I'm sorry."

He studied her. He admitted to himself that she was pretty, though it would be a while before he actually told her so. Biting his lip, he looked back down at the guitar.

"I have a favor to ask," she continued.

He placed his guitar in the open case on the ground beside him, stuffing the pick back in his pocket. He turned his whole body to face her. "What?"

"This is going to sound stupid," she started, "but I received an invitation to _le Bal des Débutantes_. I'm not sure if you know what it is, but it's a huge deal – like the society cotillions they have in New York City."

William remembered his cousin watching an episode of some American show, _Gossip Girl_ , where one of the main characters had to go to a cotillion. For some reason, he found himself watching the episode with her and becoming invested in the characters and plot. He'd never admit it to anyone, though.

"Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about."

"Anyway," she continued, clasping her hands in her lap, "I wanted to ask if you'd be my cavalier. Basically, we show up, we dance, drink champagne, mingle, and then we go home. There may or may not be food."

He stared at her in disbelief. This was the girl who'd slapped him across the face when he'd kissed her, and now she was asking him to be her date to a society event?

 _She must've run out of options,_ he told himself.

"You can say no," she offered. "My grandmother is pushing me to go with the grandson of a friend of hers. But I'd rather attend the _Bal_ with someone I know."

He considered it for a moment, smiling. "I'll go. Is there anything I need to do?"

"Do you know how to waltz?"

He felt it was best to avoid the truth. "Yes."

She smirked, but, to his surprise, didn't give a snide remark. "I just need to give your name and number to the _Bal_ committee, and I think someone will be in touch. I'm pretty sure you'll have to go in for measurements so they can make you a custom suit. Other than that, I'd ask whoever contacts you."

"Sounds like a plan." He stood, shouldering his guitar case. "Do you want to get some food?"

She looked at her Apple Watch. "Dinner isn't until seven."

"I meant we could go into town."

She blushed. "Oh. Okay."

"Great! Let me just put my guitar back in my room, and I'll meet you at the gate when I'm done."

* * *

Jeremie was at his wit's end. Here he was, slumped over the terminal in the lab, half-asleep, while Aelita hovered close by. They weren't any close to recoding the multi-agent program from when they'd started.

"I think we need to just scrap the whole thing," he suggested, rubbing his eyes. He fixed his glasses and leaned back in the chair. "Maybe I can write up a new program."

She sighed. "You couldn't have thought of that a few weeks ago?"

"Even with William's help, we're still no closer to finishing this damn thing than if it was just you and I working on it." He slouched down further in the chair, stifling a yawn. "I really hate to say it, I almost want to give up."

She grabbed his hands and pulled him from the console. They stood in the lab, facing each other. He studied her, a look of sympathy slowly creeping on to her face.

"Jeremie," she started, "I know it's been a long fight. But I've never, _ever_ seen you want to give up. Just because it isn't going our way, doesn't mean we should stop."

He looked down at his shoes. "I just feel like I'm failing."

"You're not." Her phone chimed with a text message. She looked down at it and arched an eyebrow. "Giana's on a date with William."

"What?"

"I just got this message from Sissi," she said, holding the phone out so he could see. "She's in town shopping, and saw them through the window of a restaurant."

"That doesn't mean they're on a date."

"In Sissi's world, it does."

They laughed.

"In all seriousness," she continued, "we'll make this work." She took his place at the terminal. "Why don't we start from the ground up?"

"You mean completely rewrite the program?" he exclaimed. "But–"

She turned around to face him. "Look, Jeremie: I know you want to defeat XANA as quickly as humanly possible. We all do. But, you said it yourself: it's going to take longer than anticipated." She opened the program that allowed them to call and send messages to their friends. "I'm going to ask William if he can stop by when he's done with dinner. Maybe, with the three of us in one room, we can figure something out."

* * *

A couple of hours had passed. So far, all Jeremie and Aelita had accomplished was creating a new weapon for Giana, like William had asked them. While Aelita poured over page after page of code for the multi-agent program, Jeremie was slumped against the wall behind her, his head on his backpack, sleeping.

The elevator doors opened, startling her. She turned in the chair to see William, striding with purpose across the lab.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We need help," she replied. "How was your date?"

He opened his mouth as if to answer, but promptly shut it.

"Sissi told us. She saw you two at the restaurant."

"It wasn't a date," he said curtly. "I asked her to get dinner with me. We had a nice time, and then I walked her back to the dorms before coming here."

"Did she ask you to the _Bal_?"

Again, he opened his mouth but quickly shut it. "How the hell did you–"

She smirked. "You can thank me for that."

He looked over at Jeremie. "Shouldn't we wake him up?"

"Did you say yes to her? Are you going to the _Bal_?"

He smiled. "Yes."

Aelita turned back to the terminal, trying to hide her own smile.

William went over to Jeremie and shook his shoulder. "Einstein. Get up."

"Huh?" Jeremie sat up, bleary-eyed, putting on his glasses. "Oh. Hey."

"Let's get to work." William went back over to Aelita. "What's the verdict?"

"We're going to rewrite the program completely instead of editing what we have," she said, typing. "It'll take longer, but at this point there isn't much of a choice."

Jeremie came up behind them. "I still can't believe XANA resurfaced. Something just doesn't add up."

"Are you absolutely positive you destroyed all the Replikas?" William asked.

The blonde furrowed his brow. "I'm sure of it. We destroyed them, then we shut down the supercomputer. We only turned it back on for research purposes. It's not possible that XANA could rear its ugly head again."

Aelita frowned as she read a line of code on the monitor. She leaned back. "There are still active Replikas."

Jeremie clenched his fists. "Damn it! We were _so careful_!" He started pacing. "I just… I don't understand–" He shook his head. "We defeated him!"

Aelita stood from the terminal. "Jeremie, get a _grip_!" She grabbed his shoulders so he would stop pacing, and held him at arm's length. "This could actually work in our favor. Now we won't have to rewrite the multi-agent program as much, but at least we can incorporate a better radius to destroy what's left of the Replikas. In the meantime, maybe we can still use William's technological powers to our advantage."

"What do you mean?" William asked.

"XANA had possessed you for so long. With your abilities, maybe you can help us figure out the best way to destroy him."

His face turned red. "I lost _months_ of my life because I was stuck inside that damn supercomputer. If you think–"

Aelita let go of Jeremie and turned on the older boy, fuming. "I was trapped in there for a _decade_!" she shouted. "My father _died_ because of this!" Her eyes glistened with tears. "Don't you _dare_ talk to me about loss!"

"You were _asleep_ , you weren't possessed! You don't have to relive those memories! _You_ didn't have to watch your friends _suffer_ while you caused them pain!"

"You were aware the whole time?" Jeremie asked quietly.

William looked down at his shoes, his hands balled into fists. "I'm trying _so hard_ to forget," he said in a low voice. "But every time I close my eyes, I see everything I did." He looked up at Aelita. "I saw myself trying to throw you into the digital sea. I controlled a Manta as it shot its lasers. I attacked the core of Lyoko. And when I was sent to the real world as a specter…" He shuddered.

Jeremie and Aelita were silent as they stared at him, sympathetic. A tear rolled down Aelita's cheek.

"So hopefully, you can understand me when I say: I really, _really_ want this all to be over and done with."

They didn't know how to respond.

"When I said I could help you track him down," he continued, "I didn't mean _literally_. I meant I'd help you write a program or something. I don't have the ability to actually track down the rest of XANA's fragments and destroy them myself."

"Did you tell anybody else?" Aelita asked. "About how you were aware the whole time? That you remember everything?"

"I can't." He unclenched his fists. "It's not like I can go to the school psychologist."

"Well, you can always talk to us," Jeremie said. "We've all had our fair share of post-traumatic stress when it comes to this war." He looked to Aelita. "Let's take a break. Maybe if we all get a good night's rest, we'll be of better mind to tackle it tomorrow. It's back to the drawing board, anyway."

William exhaled slowly. "Okay."

Jeremie picked up his bag, taking Aelita's hand as they strode to the elevator. William trailed behind them.

"So," Jeremie started, changing topic. He turned to William as Aelita pressed the red button to close the doors and bring them all back up to the main level. "Tell me more about this dance you're going to."

William let out a low chuckle. "It's a society gathering. I have to learn how to waltz."

"It's not that hard," Aelita said. "But I'm just going off of what I've seen in movies."

"See, that's not the problem," he replied. The elevator stopped and the door opened. They exited and headed for the stairs. "I lied to Giana and told her I already knew."

"You're an idiot," Jeremie said.

"I know."


	8. Chapter VIII

**Chapter VIII**

* * *

"Damn it!"

A Creeper shot a string of lasers at one of Ulrich's doubles. He blocked them expertly, but not before another monster snuck up behind him and devirtualized him immediately.

"Fusion!" Ulrich's remaining double fused back into him as he continued to deflect the lasers. "Come _on_ , Aelita, hurry up!"

The pink-haired girl stood at the console in the celestial dome, swiping her hands across the floating interface. "I'm almost done! Just give me a few more minutes!"

"I don't _have_ a few more–"

A Manta flew past and shot Ulrich square in the chest. He fell back as he was devirtualized, one of his katanas flying form his grasp.

"Aelita, this wasn't a good idea!" Jeremie chastised. "You've lost too many life points already – I don't know if you can send me the rest of that data before being devirtualized!"

"Send someone else!" she snapped. "I have access to an _infinite_ amount of information here, Jeremie; _much_ more than what was available initially! The supercomputer's reboot must've granted us access to all the restricted material!"

He was silent for a moment.

She fired an Energy Field, destroying the Manta that shot Ulrich. "Jeremie?"

"Hold on," he said, defeated. "I'm sending William and Giana."

It took a few moments for the duo to be virtualized into the arena.

"Whoa," Giana said, looking around. "So, this is the mysterious Sector Five?"

William nodded. "Come on. They already got the activation key to the elevator; we just need to get through the labyrinth without being crushed."

"Now, when you say _crushed_ …"

He took her hand. "Just be super aware of your surroundings."

They sprinted through the core zone and were let out on the other side of the labyrinth from the key. A laser shot out of nowhere and hit Giana in the shoulder.

She touched the spot where she'd been hit. "What the hell?"

A Creeper slid out from behind a corner. It fired again.

She dodged the second laser. "WHAT THE _HELL_!" she shrieked.

William wielded his sword. He cast a crescent of white light at the Creeper, and it disintegrated upon impact.

They continued running. "Thanks," she said. "By the way… How do you manage lugging that giant cake knife around?"

William ignored Jeremie's laughter around them, glaring. "It's a Zweihänder," he said defensively. "Not a cake knife."

"It's cool." She smiled, reaching down to the right side of her belt. "Hey," she said. "What's this?" She slowed, producing a small, dark grey staff, about a foot long. She tapped the side with her left hand, and it expanded to double its length, her eyes widening.

"It's your new weapon," Jeremie explained. "William suggested we make you a new one; the actual mechanics of it was all Aelita's doing."

Her face lit up. "This is so cool!" She tapped it again, and the staff expanded a third time, now stretching to about four and a half feet from tip to tip. "Thanks, William."

He blushed.

"And thanks, Jeremie." She took off running again until they reached the lift, William right on her heels. She tapped the side of her staff once more, and it contracted back to its original size. She stuffed it back in its holster, where the pack at her side once was.

The lift took off at lightning speed, dropping them at the celestial dome where Aelita was left to fend for herself, as more Creepers and Mantas materialized around her.

"The cavalry's here," William announced, slashing two Creepers with his sword.

Giana stabbed another Creeper on its target, beaming as it disintegrated. "Yes!" She punched her fist in the air.

"Jeremie, I'm done compiling the data," Aelita said. "Stand by for the transfer."

"Look out!" he warned. "You have company."

Aelita whirled around and came face-to-face with the Scyphozoa. But it wasn't heading for her, it was heading for Giana.

"What the hell is that thing?" the brunette exclaimed, brandishing her fully-extended staff. The monster raised a tentacle to swipe it out of her grip; it fell off the ledge and plummeted into the digital sea. She slowly backed away, terrified. "Hey!"

"Giana!" Aelita screamed.

"Giana!" William shouted, slashing his sword through yet another Creeper. He was a great deal of distance away from the girls, as they were at the edge near the terminal, while he was much further back, taking the brunt of the melee. "Super smoke!"

The Scyphozoa took the opportunity to pick the girl up, holding her in its tentacles. Her face went blank, as victims of the monster often did.

"Jeremie, start a materialization process for her," Aelita demanded.

"Are you crazy?" the boy countered. "If that thing gets its way, it'll infect her with a virus that'll leave her possessed. You know what happens when–"

Aelita shot another Energy Field at an oncoming Creeper. "Jeremie, just do it, please! I'm too tied up to help her; I have to protect the terminal. It's up to you and William."

"I'm here!" She whirled around to face William, materializing from his black smoke. He still bore XANA's symbol on his chest and still wore the black and red spandex. He slashed at the tentacles of the Scyphozoa, sending Giana falling to the ground.

"She's lost a lot of life points," Jeremie said. "I'm bringing her back in."

"Aelita," William said, "devirtualize me."

"What? No! This data transfer isn't complete, and there's no one–"

"Aelita, _please_!"

"Fine. But if the transfer doesn't finish, I'm blaming you." She took a deep breath. "Energy Field!"

* * *

The scanner opened to reveal William, gripping the sides to keep from falling. His head was down, eyes closed tight, as he took a step out on to the floor. He hated being devirtualized; it always came with an unwelcome wave of nausea and weakness.

Opening his eyes groggily, his gaze locked on to the scanner across from him as he stumbled, urging his muscles to move forward. The door was still closed, signifying a materialization in process. All of a sudden, it opened with a bright flash of light and steam.

He saw Giana, curled up on her side at the bottom of the cabin. She reached her hand out and smacked the cold, metal floor of the room.

"Hey, you're okay," he told her, crouching down to her level. "The Scyphozoa's brutal." He took her hand and rubbed his thumb across the back of it.

She slowly raised her head, opening her eyes. She pulled her hand away and sat up. "Tell me," she said quietly, "what _was_ that thing?"

 _It's why I was possessed for so long,_ he wanted to tell her. _It's what stole the Keys to Lyoko from Aelita. It's XANA's worst monster yet._

"It can't be defeated," they heard Jeremie say through the surround speakers. "You're lucky it didn't have you for too long; you would've been infected with a virus which would've caused you to be possessed by XANA."

Giana shuddered. "But why did it come after me?"

"Its victims seem to be random," William supplied. "It came after me the first time I went to Lyoko."

"But I've been to Lyoko before." She stood, holding on to the sides of the scanner's opening.

"I don't think that matters," Jeremie said. The duo headed for the elevator to join him back in the lab. "William's right: The Scyphozoa's victims are random. There's really no rhyme or reason to it." He paused as the elevator doors opened to reveal them. "But at this point, we know XANA's strong enough to send it out. And that's not good."

"Where's Ulrich?" William asked, changing the topic.

"He had to go pack," Jeremie explained, eyes still locked on the computer monitor. "He's going with Yumi and her family to the mountains for Toussaint. They're leaving this afternoon."

"Which mountains?" Giana asked, sitting down next to her bag. She took out her phone and started responding to a text message from her brother.

"I have no idea. Somewhere in the French Alps, I think," Jeremie said. He spoke into the mic. "Alright, Aelita, the transfer's complete. I'm bringing you in."

"My brother's mad I'm not coming home," Giana said, locking her phone and stuffing it in one of her bag's outer pockets. "According to him, it's because I'm missing this year's trip to Salem for Halloween."

"Why can't you go next year?" William asked, sitting a few feet away from her.

"He applied to Columbia University in New York," she explained. "He figures that, if he's accepted, we won't be able to do the Salem thing."

"What's so good about Salem?" Jeremie asked, standing from the console and stretching. The elevator opened to reveal Aelita, exhausted, as she strode toward him and gave him a kiss.

"It's like Times Square on New Year's Eve," the brunette explained. "Billions of people go to Salem on Halloween. Like, people from all over the world. It's crazy."

"I get the feeling you don't like it," Aelita commented.

"I'm not big on crowds."

Jeremie checked his watch. "Speaking of crowds, we'd better blend into the ones at school soon. We're supposed to be back at the dorms, getting ready for class."

They left the factory and were greeted by the sun rising.

"I can't believe we've been here since two-thirty this morning," William said, yawning. "Remind me whose idea this was?"

"Aelita's," Jeremie said, without missing a beat.

"I have to feed the dog," Giana droned, keeping pace with them. Her cane caught in a crack in the path as they traveled through the sewers, the grip stabbing her in the gut. "Damn it!"

William tried to disguise his laughter. "Does that happen often?"

"More than I'd like to admit," she muttered. "That's why I prefer Vega."

"Come on, you two," Aelita called. She and Jeremie had managed to get a few yards ahead of them. "We're going to be late!"

* * *

"I don't know how I managed to stay awake during Ms. Hertz's lecture," Ulrich said. "And now I have to try not to fall asleep on a five-hour car ride."

"I mean, I'm sure Yumi's parents won't care if you fell asleep," Odd said, lounging on his bed with Kiwi. "Just tell them you were up late studying."

"That won't stop Hiroki from making fun of me." He threw another pair of jeans into the bag. "You're lucky you weren't on rotation. The amount of monsters this time was unreal."

The blonde looked up from his comic book. "At least we only had a half day of classes." His phone chimed, and he practically threw the comic book across the room when he read the message. "Oh, man! You're not going to believe this!" He jumped off his bed and ran over to his roommate, shoving the phone in his face.

Ulrich arched an eyebrow. "Sam wants to get together?" He threw a heavy shirt on top of the pile of clothes in his bag, trying in vain to zip it closed. "Can you help me with this?"

"I can't believe it," Odd said, completely ignoring him and still focusing on the text. "Last time I saw her, she made a huge mess of things when she didn't give me your message, remember?" He started to tap out a reply. "Apparently, her dad's coming to Paris on business for a couple of days and she wanted to go with him. It's weird – we haven't really spoken since the skateboarding competition."

"Maybe you can take her out to eat or something and charm her with the unlimited amount of food you shove down your throat," Ulrich deadpanned.

"That's a great idea!"

"What?!" He was still struggling with the suitcase. "I was just being sarcastic! And hey, I thought you were going to help me with this!"

"No, I think it's great – I just want someone there, kind of like a buffer." He held the bag closed as Ulrich struggled to zip it.

"Ask Jeremie and Aelita to join you. Make it a double date."

"I don't know. Aelita would go along with it I'm sure, but Jeremie's at that point again where nothing matters except defeating XANA." He sighed. "If only you and Yumi weren't going away."

They'd finally succeeded in closing the duffel. "You can always ask William and Giana."

Odd laughed uncontrollably.

"It was just a thought."

He calmed down enough to finish and send his message. "I guess it can't hurt, right?"

Ulrich grabbed his bag and started out the door. "Yeah, good luck. Tell me all about it."

* * *

"Did you get a text from Odd, telling us to meet him here?"

Giana looked up from her laptop. She was sitting in the rec room, Vega at her feet, as William stood in front of her, holding out his phone as if she could see it. She couldn't.

"Yeah," she said. He sat down next to her, and she closed her laptop, putting it in her bag. "Do you know what's going on?"

"No idea."

As if on cue, Odd came sliding into the room on his skateboard, kicking it up to stand vertical against his foot. He sauntered over to them with the board under his arm. "Ah, there are two of my favorite people!"

"What do you want, Odd?" William asked, eyeing him. The blonde sat down across from them, leaning the skateboard against the ottoman.

"I have a favor to ask."

"No kidding," Giana said, leaning back in her chair. She took a sip from her water bottle.

"I was wondering if you two would accompany Sam and I on a double date this week."

She coughed, practically spitting out her water. "Excuse me?"

"We'd love to," William replied.

She glared at him. " _Excuse_ _you_?" She turned back to Odd. "Who's Sam?"

"She's a girl I was kind of dating at one point," he said, avoiding eye contact. "I saw her last year at a skateboarding competition, but haven't really spoken to her since. Her dad's going on a business trip to Paris during Toussaint, and since she lives out on the coast, she said she wanted to go with him to see me."

"And you can't romance her over a dinner for two?" Giana asked.

"I want a buffer." He shrugged. "It was Ulrich's idea in the first place for me to ask you."

"What about Jeremie and Aelita?"

"I don't even know if they go out on dates _themselves_ , let alone double."

"But you couldn't have at least _asked_ them?"

"Jeremie's too wrapped up in finding the right way to defeat XANA," William interjected. "Besides," he faced Giana. "It's just dinner. It's not like we're going to a disco or anything."

"We're not even old enough to get into one," she pointed out, sighing. "Fine." She stood, telling Vega to get up as well. "I'll see you guys later. I have to let her out."

The boys watched her exit with her messenger bag and the dog, and Odd moved to take her place.

"Thanks for agreeing to do this, William," he said. "I honestly think having you two along would make things go a bit smoother. Sam and I didn't exactly end on good terms."

"It's not a problem at all," he said. "And I should really be thanking _you_. I like Giana and I think she's cute. I just want her to feel the same way about me."

"She asked you to the _Bal_ , though. That must mean something."

"Honestly? I think she ran out of options."

They stood up, Odd picking up his skateboard. "I'm sure it's not like that."

"Well, regardless, I should go." William checked his phone. "Jeremie wants me to help him with the XANA thing. Although," he smiled. "I left him and Aelita alone for quite a while. I doubt they got any work done."

"I'll come with you."

He gave him a sidelong glance.

"What? I'm bored."


	9. Chapter IX

**Chapter IX**

* * *

"How can you still not have made any progress on this damn thing?!" William practically shouted.

"It's only been a few weeks!" Jeremie retorted, glaring. " _You_ try mulling in front of this computer, day after day, having exhausted _every solution possible_ , and _then_ come talk to me about how long we're taking!"

"You seem really tense, Einstein," Odd cut in. "Maybe if you spent more time alone with Aelita–"

"The only alone time I have with Aelita," Jeremie started in a low voice, "is when we're here, in the lab, trying to figure out how exactly to go about defeating XANA." He leaned back in the chair. "The multi-agent program is done, and I unleashed it to destroy the rest of the Replikas. But XANA's presence is still there, and stronger. He's hiding in some remote corner that we can't get to."

"Do either of you know how to waltz?"

The duo looked at William, dumfounded, as he changed the topic.

"I need to learn for _le Bal_ , and I'm too embarrassed to go to classes for it."

"They have a class for that," Jeremie said. "It's mandatory the night before the event."

"Right," William continued. "But as you know, I already told Giana I knew how."

"Sissi might know," Odd suggested. "She said once that her mother enrolled her in etiquette lessons when she was younger. Ask her."

"That's a great idea!" William took out his phone and sent a message the girl in question.

"Can we please get back to the issue at hand?" Jeremie asked, impatient. "At this point, we've run out of options: The only thing we can keep doing, is fight on Lyoko and try to avoid using the return to the past function as much as possible. XANA's already at his peak, considering he was able to send out the Scyphozoa."

"Why can't we just shut down the supercomputer?" Odd inquired. "Won't it kill XANA?"

Jeremie shook his head. "No. Like I said, the multi-agent program destroyed the Replikas, but somehow those loose fragments of XANA are still trapped in the net. Since they're no longer one and the same, and he's not tethered to the supercomputer anymore, it's becoming harder and harder to defeat him. I can't think of any program that'll blow him out of the water this time." He paused, taking a breath. "So, no, we can't just shut down the supercomputer."

"And you already searched through Franz Hopper's diary again, right?" William asked. "There wasn't any useful information in there?"

"We already got as much as we needed beforehand. Plus, no offense to the man, but he kind of went insane toward the end – he used the return to the past function to repeat the same day for seven years." Jeremie took in William's shocked expression, as he realized he hadn't been completely caught up to speed on that front. "In the meantime, I'm trying to scour the web for traces of Aelita's mother: Some sort of online presence, like email addresses or login credentials for social media accounts, or something that might be telling to where she's located. So far, I haven't found anything concrete – but the name Anthea isn't exactly common."

"She could be going under an alias," Odd pointed out. "I mean, how do we know for sure she wasn't aware of her husband's work? She was captured by the Men in Black after all, right?"

The boy nodded. "That's what we assume, based on Aelita's recollection of the events."

"I can't believe it," William said. "Her father's dead and her mother's missing. I feel bad for yelling at her last week about being trapped in the supercomputer, how much time I lost…"

"You didn't know." Jeremie sighed. "On all accounts though, we're back at square one. I really don't know where to go from here."

"We'll figure something out," Odd said. "We always do."

"Your optimism's great, Odd," Jeremie started, standing from the console, "but I don't think it'll get us out of this one."

* * *

The next day, William was knocking on Sissi's door, grateful for her being generous enough to teach him to waltz in secret. She opened it, her hands on her hips and a bored expression on her face. Classical music was drifting into the hallway from a set of Bluetooth speakers tethered to her phone, sitting on the vanity. She gestured for him to come in, closing the door behind them.

"Thanks for doing this," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I feel like an idiot."

"You are," she deadpanned.

He narrowed his eyes, remaining silent.

"Okay," she said. "Think of it like a box: You'll be doing the top, since you'll be leading, and I'll be doing the bottom."

He stared at her, dumfounded.

She sighed. "Just, try not to step on my toes."

He shrugged off his hoodie.

"Now," she started, moving to stand a mere few inches in front of him, "I'll put my hand on your shoulder, here, and you'll put your hand here." She grabbed his hand to rest it on the small of her back. "Clasp your other hand in mine."

He did as he was told, avoiding eye contact.

"You're making this a lot more awkward than it needs to be."

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Step forward with your left foot, and I'll step back with my right," she demanded.

He obeyed, avoiding landing on her toes.

"Good." She smiled. "Now I'll act as your mirror: Step to the side with your right foot, and I'll match. After stepping out, close it with your left foot so you're standing with your feet more or less together."

The movement was fluid, more rhythmic than Sissi had been expecting. She smirked.

"What?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Your dancing isn't half bad." She paused. "Now we'll do the same thing, but you're moving back instead of forward. This is what's called the box step."

They did a few rounds of stepping in tune to the music, the steps surprisingly more graceful than they'd been expecting.

William smiled. "This is easy!" he exclaimed.

"Now we're going to rotate," Sissi said. "We'll do it a quarter of a turn to the left. Every time you're supposed to be stepping out to the side, you'll turn to the left as you do so."

He stared at her. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Do you want to impress your girlfriend or not?" she asked shrilly.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"You're lying." Her expression hardened. "I know you've been making out in secret." She paused. "There's a bet going on, you know."

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"We're betting on if and when you'll both admit you're seeing each other. If you actually do admit it and wait until after the _Bal_ , I'll make a tidy profit."

"And if we don't?"

"Ulrich wins. He said if you keep quiet until the end of term, it paints the picture that you're just friends. Yumi more or less agreed with him."

"Of course they did," William muttered, letting out an agitated sound. He his hand from the small of Sissi's back and took a deep breath to collect himself. "Fine, just don't tell anyone." He replaced his hand. "Continue."

"It's not that hard," she assured him. "See?"

They started the turning sequence, and this time he did manage to step on her foot.

"Damn it!" She let go, hopping up and down as she grabbed her left foot. "Pay attention!"

"I'm sorry!"

At that moment, there was a brief knock at the door before it opened, revealing Giana. Sissi furiously tapped at her Apple Watch to change the Pandora station to something more contemporary. Immediately, a pop song blared through the speakers.

"Sissi," the brunette started, "Jeremie's been looking for you. There's an activated tower, and you and Odd are on call."

"Why didn't he just text me?" Sissi asked defensively, crossing her arms.

"He did," she stated forcefully. "He tried calling you, too, but he said your phone just rang and rang and then went to voicemail."

The girl looked over to her iPhone, sitting face-down on the vanity next to the speakers that were pumping out the music. She realized she'd put it on silent for the dancing lessons. "Oh," she said, her voice small and her face turning a bright pink. She walked over to the device and turned off the Bluetooth connectivity, switching the power off on the speakers. She slipped her phone into her bag and shoved William out into the hall. "Well, I'd better be going," she told them, shutting and locking her door. "See you later."

She rushed off, slipping through the double doors that led to the stairwell before they could muster up a response.

The duo stood in the hallway, side-by-side, staring straight ahead to where Sissi had escaped to.

"What were you doing?" Giana asked.

"She was showing me some new music," William lied.

She arched an eyebrow. "I swear that was the waltz playing."

"You must be hearing things," he said, brushing it off. "It was nothing, really."

* * *

"Jeremie, I'm out of arrows!" Odd shouted, trying in vain to call up his weapon. "Come on, help me out!"

"How the hell can you run out?" Jeremie shouted. "I gave you ten thousand arrows and have already refilled them once – there's no way you could–"

The boy dodged another laser from an oncoming Krab. "JEREMIE!"

"Okay, okay," the blonde mumbled, opening up a new window to refill the arrows. "Give me a minute."

Sissi hit Odd with a blast of her healing power. "You seem to be getting low on life points," she teased, stabbing the same Krab with her staff. It exploded. "Thank me later!"

"Why do you get a cool power, and I have nothing?" Odd whined, hopping on his Overboard to fly higher in the sky to better dodge the lasers. "My Future Flash power was lame, and then that one time I had Teleportation, I materialized as a triplet!"

Sissi shrugged, nonplussed, and stabbed another Krab. "Take that up with Einstein, not me! I'm just here for the excitement."

"The tower's not too far," Jeremie cut in. "You guys better hurry."

"Right." Aelita jumped on the Overwing, gesturing for Sissi to ride with her. Odd shot a newly loaded arrow at an encroaching Hornet.

"Got him!" he exclaimed. After his brief victory, he followed the girls, pivoting off on his board toward the tower. But not before another Hornet shot him square in the back. "Damn it!"

Aelita turned around and shot an Energy Field at the flying monster, diminishing it in a flash of pink. She turned back to face forward, kicking the vehicle into high gear.

"Why don't we use these things more often?" Sissi inquired, adjusting her staff. "They're obviously quicker to get around on."

"Honestly, I've been able to virtualize you guys so close to the towers recently, that there hasn't been as much a need for them," Jeremie explained. "But this time the coordinates weren't quite right – I have to run some more tests on the superscan, it's been acting weird lately."

"Whatever, at least we have them now!" Odd said, rotating himself so he was upside-down and at a perfect vantage point to take out another Hornet. "Thanks for the fresh arrows, Einstein! What's my monster count at?"

"Aelita's in the lead again," the blonde said, remembering the competition they'd had going on. They cleaned the slate as soon as the attacks started up again so everyone was on a fair playing ground. "But you're in third, right behind Sissi."

Odd sputtered, garnering cackling from the girl in question. Aelita rolled her eyes.

"It's just a competition," Aelita said, jumping off the Overwing and running to the tower.

"I'm bringing you guys back in," Jeremie announced. "Good job everyone."

"It's just as well," Sissi said as she took a shaky step out of the scanner. "I have my weekly dinner plans with my father, and if I'm late, he'll definitely be suspicious. He's already been questioning me about why I'm always going off campus with you guys all the time."

"Has he asked you anything direct yet?" Aelita inquired as they trudged into the lab from the elevator.

Sissi shook her head. "No, but I have a feeling that might not last much longer."


	10. Chapter X

**Content Warning: This chapter contains references to suicide, alcoholism, and sexual themes.**

* * *

 **Chapter X**

* * *

"You've definitely done that before."

Giana was lying with her back to him. She was facing the wall, looking at one of his posters. He leaned over and ran kisses along her shoulder.

William smirked. "I could say the same thing about you."

"Who was your first?"

The question caught him off guard. He propped himself up on his elbow. "Heidi."

"Not Heidi Klinger," she inquired. It wasn't a question.

He nodded. "Yeah."

She let out a single laugh.

"What about you?"

She stiffened, adjusting herself to lay on her back. He looked down at her.

"Xander," she said in a hollow voice.

He frowned.

"He was my boyfriend at the time," she continued. "He…"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he said.

"No, no… It's fine." She took a deep breath. "He killed himself."

That definitely wasn't the answer William had expected. "What happened?"

"Everything was going fine at first," she started, shifting again to face the wall. "We were together for about a year in total. The problem was, out of nowhere, he changed – like, he did a complete one-eighty. He was all of a sudden incredibly controlling; he didn't want me to go off with my friends unless I invited him too. We did have a group of friends that we hung out with, but I also had my own, and he wouldn't accept that." She paused. "He wanted constant communication, twenty-four-seven. He didn't like that I was heavily involved in an advocacy organization for people who are blind and visually impaired. Stuff like that." She made a face bordering on disgust. "After the first time, he always wanted to have sex." She exhaled. "So, I broke up with him."

"Did he hurt you?"

She bit her lower lip, not that he could really tell from his angle as she was still facing the wall. Again, she tried to focus on the poster, the wall, anywhere else, to avoid turning around and looking William in the eye.

He placed a tentative hand on her upper arm. All he got in response was the faintest nod. And that made him angry.

But she had more to her story, so she continued. "He tried to get me back. Multiple times, in fact. Of course, every time he asked, I said no. I had to block his number from calling. When that happened, he would show up at my house unannounced. He'd wait outside the gate to our school and follow me home – and I stayed late for theater rehearsal. He even tried to get my brother involved, like that would've benefitted him. He was obsessively stalking me." She paused. "It got so bad at one point, that we had to take out a restraining order on him."

William didn't realize that he was moving his hand in a circular motion on her shoulder, until she once again moved to lay on her back. She looked up at the ceiling. He settled back down next to her.

"Then, one day, about a month after the court order, I get a call from my best friend, Tori. She lives next door to them." Her breath hitched. "One of Xander's brothers came home and found him in their car, in the garage. He was already dead."

"Was he, uh…" He didn't know how to make it sound tactful. "Did he have–"

"Did he have low vision?" she interjected. "It's alright, you can say it." She turned her head, facing the wall again. "No."

He didn't know what else to say. He mustered up an "I'm sorry."

"Everyone told me it wasn't my fault," she continued. "My parents, my brother, Tori… Literally, everyone told me not to blame myself. But even now, I still do."

"Don't," he said quietly.

She finally turned to look at him, tears welling in her eyes. "I can't help it." Her breath hitched. "Despite everything, I loved him."

"He obviously had some mental health issues that no one was aware of," he offered. "Maybe, if he had just gotten the right help…"

She didn't answer. William decided it was best to not prod any further.

* * *

He couldn't pinpoint exactly when she fell asleep, but she did. He gave her one of his Subdigitals T-shirts to wear. It was the one from when Aelita had been their opening act – they had given it to him after he had been devirtualized, having gotten an extra, as he was already part of the group at that point.

He envied Giana for being able to drift off into a seemingly sound sleep.

They agreed it was too risky for her to walk back upstairs to her room; Jim might be patrolling. It was better to wait until the morning, when everyone started waking up and Jim was still asleep.

They also didn't want the rest of the group to know they had been seeing each other just yet, as he'd told Sissi when they were practicing the waltz. Let them think he was still sulking over Yumi's rejection or whatever. There was something fun and rebellious about a secret romance anyway. And William was all about being rebellious.

He lay next to her, staring up at the ceiling, wide awake. He thought about the handle of vodka stashed away at the back of his closet, half empty, behind his longboard and some laundry. Practically every night since the term had started, he'd drink some – just enough to dull the pain – and then he'd eventually succumb to sleep. He expected it to be tempting him tonight, but it wasn't.

He was seventeen, he could have alcohol. Jim and the teachers just couldn't know about it, as it was considered contraband even though he was of the legal age.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw what he did to Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita on Lyoko. And he remembered everything his specter did on earth. Just as he'd told Jeremie and Aelita, he was aware the entire time, unable to stop XANA from controlling him. It was like everything had been a horribly surreal out-of-body experience, a nightmare, some already terrible movie gone bad. Except it had happened in real life, and he had hurt real people, his real friends.

And yet, here he was: Physically healthy, but otherwise tipping precariously towards insanity. The ghosts of his past kept eating away at him. He couldn't go to the school psychologist, Dr. Simone or Klotz or whatever his name was; he couldn't go to an actual psychologist either. Any attempt at that would mean divulging everything: Lyoko, the supercomputer, XANA. And that was way too dangerous, especially with those damn fragments still out there.

It was like a blip on the radar that none of them had noticed until a few weeks ago, when that first attack happened. Jeremie theorized that it was because XANA might not have been strong enough up until that point to actually facilitate activating a tower; however, William still blamed him for turning the supercomputer back on in the first place. He knew Aelita wanted to find her mom, and they wanted to delve more into the whole deal with Project Carthage and how Franz Hopper actually created Lyoko and all that. But none of those things were as important as his suffering mental health. He didn't want to keep fighting an AI, not when he was constantly still waging internal battles with himself.

He let out an agitated breath through his nose. He turned to look up at his alarm clock on the edge of his desk. It was just about two in the morning. It was Toussaint; the dorms were practically empty save for the two of them, Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, and Sissi.

He looked over at Giana, still sleeping, seemingly without a care in the world.

"You're not the only one with a tragic past," he whispered.

Before he realized, he eventually drifted off into his own personal Hell called sleep.

* * *

"Sissi, we're worried about you."

"Go to bed, Hervé," she droned, tired. "It's two in the morning."

"You're spending all your time hanging out with Jeremie and his group," he continued. She could feel his agitation through the phone. "And you're becoming just like them, too – always going off campus, always hiding things and keeping secrets. What the hell is going on that's so important, you can't tell Nicholas and I?"

She groaned, flopping back on to her bed. "It's complicated. You wouldn't understand."

"But I–"

"Look, Hervé," she cut him off, sitting up. "I'm getting the same questions from my father, okay? I don't need you and Nicholas to start interrogating me, too. Good night."

She ended the call without so much as letting him get another word in edgewise. Taking a deep breath, she stood from her bed and put on her slippers. Maybe Aelita was still awake.

She knocked on the pink-haired girl's door, but there was no answer. She tried jiggling the handle, but it was locked. So, she went next door and tried Giana's room.

Immediately, a blur of black fluff launched at her as she quietly opened the door. She stifled a yelp as she got herself under control, and realized it was only Vega.

"Hey, girl," she said quietly, bending down to pet the dog, who had nicely sat for her. "Where's your owner?"

Vega tilted her head to the side and looked at Sissi expectantly. The girl looked up into the vacant room, the lights off and shades drawn.

"Weird," she said aloud, mainly to the dog. "Aelita might actually be in her room asleep, but Giana's blatantly not here." She looked back to the black lab and cracked a smile. "Did she go downstairs to see William?"

Vega yawned and licked Sissi's hand.

"I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to come to Disneyland Paris with us?" Giana asked, dressing in her clothes from the previous day.

"Nah," William answered, pulling on a T-shirt. "I told Jeremie I'd work with him on the XANA thing." He ran a comb through his hair. "Say hi to Mickey for me."

She smiled, and they kissed. "See you later."

Stepping out into the hall, she checked her watch: It was early, almost seven. They figured Jim would still be asleep at this hour, considering the dorms were pretty much empty. She quietly walked to the double doors leading to the stairwell, checking around the corner to make sure she was alone.

As luck would have it, Jim came barreling out of the stairwell at the exact moment she opened the door. He stopped short, crossing his arms and scrutinizing her.

"De Luca!" he exclaimed. "Care to tell me what you're _doing_ on the boys' floor at this hour?"

She went rigid, but flashed a fake grin nonetheless. "Well, Jim," she started, the smile still pasted on her face, "I got a little turned around. You see, my grandmother stopped by to drop off this sweater." She lifted her arm slightly to show the blue cardigan draped over it. "It was so quick that I figured I didn't need Vega, although it is a little disorienting without her."

He arched an eyebrow. "Don't you have a cane or something?"

"I have a backup somewhere, but I can't seem to find it," she lied.

"Well." His expression softened. "Alright, then. Carry on." He held the door open for her so she could escape into the stairwell. Once it was closed, she ran up the steps as fast as she could manage, not stopping until she was in front of the door to her room. She let out a breath as she stuck the key in the lock.

"I thought I locked this," she said to herself as the key wouldn't budge.

"You didn't."

She jumped, turning around to come face-to-face with Sissi. The girl stood in the doorway to her own room, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. Of course, Giana couldn't really see that – to her, Sissi's face just looked like a pale blob with long black hair.

"How did you know?" the brunette asked.

"I was up at around two this morning, talking to Hervé – you know him, the geeky kid who's always competing with Jeremie when we're in class. Anyway, he was giving me the third-degree about why I'd been going off campus so often, and after hanging up with him, I wanted to talk to you or Aelita. But Aelita was asleep, and you weren't here. I did have a nice bonding moment with your dog, though."

Giana opened the door to her room, immediately assaulted by the sixty-pound Labrador, tail wagging full-force.

"Do you want to go to Disneyland Paris with us today?" she asked, changing the topic and wrangling her dog. "My grandparents are getting us at eight."

"I can't," she said, dismayed. "My father wants to spend the day with me. But I can let Vega out this afternoon if you're not back in time."

"I'd appreciate that." She entered her room, ushering the dog back in with her, and shut the door. _I really need to keep this thing locked,_ she told herself.


	11. Chapter XI

**Chapter XI**

* * *

Odd stood in the hall, pounding on the door to Jeremie's room. "Hey, Einstein! Jeremie!"

Wearily, the boy in question unlocked it, standing in the doorway in a T-shirt and boxers. He didn't even have his glasses on. "What do you want, Odd? It's seven-thirty in the morning!"

"Have you seen Aelita?"

Jeremie stifled a yawn, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "No. Why?"

"We're supposed to go to Disneyland Paris today with Giana. We asked Sissi to join us, but she said she had other things to do – can you believe it?" Odd tried to look past him, but Jeremie blocked his view. "Say… Aelita's not in _here_ , is she?"

"Why would you think that?" He moved again. "I just don't want you to see how messy my room is."

"Well, we're pretty sure she's not in her room, and Giana said she checked the girls' bathroom but couldn't find her."

"She might've gone to the cafeteria. You know how she loves the croissants."

"You're probably right." Odd stepped back, typing something on his phone. "Well, if you see her, tell her to meet us at the school's gate in half an hour."

"Will do."

The boy turned and left, and Jeremie shut and locked his door, leaning with his back against it.

Aelita's head poked out from under his blankets. "Do you think he knew I was here?"

Jeremie smirked, crossing the room to his desk. He put on his glasses and unplugged his phone from the charger. "I'd say it was a close call."

She got out of bed, wearing his Aperture Science T-shirt from the _Portal_ games. "I should go," she said, putting on her jeans and socks. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

"No, it's okay. I'm heading back over to the lab. William and I are going to continue deciphering that data from Sector Five."

She gathered the rest of her clothes from the previous night, and kissed him. "Just don't work too hard."

He gave her a wry smile. "I'll try not to."

* * *

They met at the school gate. Giana had her cane, opting to leave Vega in her room. "Where were you?" she asked as Aelita approached them. She had changed into fresh clothes, opting for a blue sweatshirt with the emblem of her previous school on it.

"I was in the cafeteria." It wasn't a total lie. She'd even had enough time to take a shower and change into some fresh clothes herself. "I left my phone in my room to charge, that's why you probably couldn't reach me." She took another bite of her alibi: A half-eaten croissant.

"Okay," Odd said, smirking.

She changed the topic, turning to Giana. "So, you said your grandparents are picking us up?"

The girl blanched. "Well, not exactly."

A black town car approached the school's gate, stopping in front of them. A tall, slender man exited from the driver's side door. His hair was silver and he wore a black suit. He had wrinkles and laugh lines on his face and his blue eyes twinkled when he spoke.

"Miss," he addressed Giana. "Your grandparents informed me that you and your friends required my services to take you to Disneyland Paris."

"Hi, Quentin," she greeted, smiling. "That's right; this is Odd Della Robbia, and Aelita Stones." She gestured to them respectively.

Quentin opened the back door on the passenger's side, and the trio slid into the car. Once they were situated, he closed the door, went around to the driver's side, and got in, starting the ignition.

"Your grandparents have a butler?" Odd asked, astonished.

"Yes, Mr. Della Robbia," Quentin answered. "I have worked for the Vincent family for decades." He did a U-turn to exit out of Kadic's grounds and into the town of Boulogne-Billancourt. It was Tuesday, so they had a bit of rush hour traffic to contend with.

"My brother and I consider him a member of the family," Giana added.

Quentin smiled. "Thank you, Miss De Luca."

Aelita looked out the window. "You don't mind making the drive from Neuilly-sur-Seine, to Kadic, and out to Marne-la-Vallée and back?"

"Quite the contrary, Miss Stones," he replied, his eyes glued to the road. "I find the drive quite therapeutic." He wailed on the horn as another car cut them off.

"I can't believe Jeremie didn't want to come," Giana said, changing the topic.

"I know," Aelita replied. "But, I can't say I'm not surprised."

"They should take a break," Odd said. "You've all been working so hard."

"You know Jeremie," she mused. "The day he takes a break is the day this whole fiasco is done and over with."

Giana leaned back. "Did you decide on where we're going for dinner Thursday, Odd?"

"Not yet," he replied, staring down at his phone. "I'm trying to find somewhere classy, yet inexpensive."

The girls laughed. Odd saw Quentin crack a smile through the rear-view mirror.

* * *

"You should've gone with them, Jeremie. You can't let this XANA thing consume your life."

William sat at the console in the lab. Jeremie was a few feet away, typing on his laptop.

"I feel like we're so close to figuring this out," the blonde replied.

He turned to look at him. "We've been chipping away at this all day, and so far, that data we got has proven to be useless." He faced the monitor again, leaning back in the chair. "I kind of wish _I'd_ gone with them," he brooded.

"So, go!" Jeremie retorted. "I'm not forcing you to stay."

"I thought you wanted my help!"

"I'm sorry," he said, taking a deep breath. "I'm just a little tense. We've hit so many roadblocks."

"You didn't get any sleep again last night, did you?"

"Well," he started, "Aelita and I… See, we kind of…"

"You slept together," William deadpanned.

Jeremie's face turned red.

William laughed. "Well, way to go!"

"It wasn't the first time," he mumbled. "But thanks, I guess."

"Hey." He stood from the console and stretched. "You think I'd have a chance with Giana?"

Jeremie's head snapped up and he looked him in the eye. "What?"

"I like her," he put simply. "She's cute. And she doesn't come with another boy trailing her like a lost puppy." He was really trying to get a ruse out of him, since he already knew about their bet thanks to Sissi.

"Don't say that about Ulrich."

"I meant it nicely." He walked over to the blonde and settled on the floor across from him. "But I'm serious about her."

"I don't know." Jeremie focused on his laptop again. "Aelita and I were talking, because she also thought you two would hit it off well. However, she mentioned Giana was in a pretty serious relationship back in Boston that ended horribly, and that she wasn't ready to date yet."

He knew that already, but chose not to comment for fear of being exposed. "Well, hopefully this double date with Odd and Sam will lead to something."

They stood up. "If not, you always have _le Bal_."

"Yeah." He smiled. "Let's get some food. We'll sift through the rest of this data when we get back."

* * *

"I'm hungry!"

Aelita sighed. "You're _always_ hungry, Odd!"

They'd just left Phantom Manor and were looping around to Main Street. It was dusk; the park was completely lit up.

"Let's go in here," Giana said, leading them down a side alley and into The Coffee Grinder. "We should be able to–" She stopped short, causing Odd and Aelita to bump into her. The color drained from her face.

"Giana?" Odd pressed, nudging her. "What's–"

He followed her line of sight and spotted a boy a mere few feet away, taller than he, with dirty blonde hair. He had his back to them, but when he turned around, they saw XANA's symbol flashing in his eyes.

They did an about-face and ran as fast as they could out of the restaurant, blending in with the crowds heading toward Fantasyland at the back of the park. They tried their best to nonchalantly get in line for Peter Pan's Flight, Odd looking over his shoulder constantly to make sure they weren't followed. A little girl stood behind them in line and stared up at him inquisitively. It was probably because of his hair.

"What do we do?" Giana asked.

Aelita already had her phone out. "I'm calling Jeremie. There's a chance he doesn't know there's an activated tower." She paused. "Did you know that boy?"

"He's an ex-boyfriend of mine," she answered. "The one I told you about, from back home."

"Is that a bad thing?" Odd asked.

"Very bad," she replied.

Aelita nodded in agreement as she spoke to Jeremie. After a moment, she hung up. "He said he and William were getting some food and left his laptop in the lab, but he literally just got the alert on his phone. Obviously, he told us to get the hell out of here."

"How could you see him, though?" Odd asked Giana, referring to the specter. "You said you can't see facial details unless you're a few inches away."

"I don't know," the brunette answered. "I just sensed it, I guess."

The boy was silent.

Giana was already pressing the call button on Quentin's contact card. "Quentin?" she started. "Yes, we're fine. But we need to get back to school. … Thank you. And please, if you can, bring something to eat? Odd's hungry." She ended the call. "He stayed in the area, so he's not too far out. Let's start making our way to the front of the park."

"Uh, I don't think we can do that right now," Odd said.

"Why not?"

"Because we're next in line to get on this ride."

A female Cast Member eyed them with concern as the trio came to the realization they were about to board the vehicle. She politely asked Giana if she needed any help, to which the girl declined, and they were sent off on a journey to find Tinkerbell.

* * *

As soon as they exited the ride, they took a very convoluted way to get around to the front entrance, going down side pathways and blending in with the larger groups of teenagers in Discoveryland, heading toward the castle at the center of the park. Finally, they were back out on Main Street.

"I don't see him anywhere," Odd said, referring to the specter.

"That doesn't mean anything," Aelita told him. "I won't feel safe until we're back in that car. Excuse me, sir?" She flagged down a Cast Member. "Could you help us, please?"

"Of course, Miss," he responded. His badge said his name was Simon. "What seems to be the problem?"

"You see, Simon, we saw someone who my friend here" – she put her hand on Giana's shoulder – "has a restraining order against. And, as you could imagine, we feel very unsafe as we've noticed he's been following us."

Simon took out a smart phone. "What's the name of this young man?" He looked at Giana, noticing her cane. "And, are you able to provide an accurate description?"

"Xander Emerson," the brunette replied, without missing a beat. "He's almost six feet tall, with dirty blonde hair and green eyes."

"He's wearing a blue sweatshirt with a Buckingham Browne & Nichols School emblem on it – it looks exactly like this," Odd supplied, gesturing to Giana in the same shirt, "and dark jeans, and black sneakers," He paused. "There he is!" He pointed off to the right, and Simon turned to spot the boy in question slinking toward them through the throngs of people.

"We're waiting for a ride home," Aelita said.

"There's no need to leave," the man told them. "We can easily escort this person off the premises." Two security guards approached him. "Ah, good. Henri, Collette," he said to them. "Please, come with me. We have a situation."

The guards left with Simon as the trio thanked them for their help. "Little do they know, they're in for a fight," Giana said. Her phone chimed. "Quentin's here."

They turned to leave, but stopped briefly in their tracks as they heard people screaming. They took off running.

"They must be having trouble," Odd said. Giana grabbed on to his elbow, opting to forgo the use of her cane in the interest of both leaving quickly and keeping up with them.

They exited the park, running through the breezeway of the hotel where the park entrance was. People stopped and stared, but for the most part they were ignored. They kept running, past the Studios Park and the Village. Finally, Aelita spotted the car idling near the back side of the Dome.

They didn't wait for formalities – instead, they swung the back passenger-side door open and piled in, Odd slamming it after them.

"Oh, thank God," Giana said, catching her breath. She folded her cane and placed it at her feet.

"Is everything quite alright, Miss?" Quentin asked. He went around the circular drive and exited out on to the main road. "Did you have a good time?"

The trio nodded.

"I have a box of pastry to hold you over."

Odd reached around to the front passenger-side seat, pulling a white bakery box on to his lap. He opened it and immediately bit into a scone. "Thanks, this is delicious!"

"Of course, Mr. Della Robbia."

* * *

They made it back to Kadic in record time, Quentin graciously choosing to not ask further questions.

"Okay," Aelita said. "I'll go to the factory with Giana. Jeremie's probably already there." William ran up to them. "Good." She acknowledged him. "Odd, come with us. William, get Sissi."

"Jeremie's not in the lab," William said. "Not yet, anyway – he figured Sissi's healing powers would be useful, so he went into town to get her. I'll find them and meet you at the factory."

They broke off in separate directions, the trio heading through the park while William ran out the school's gate, into town, his phone at his ear as he tried to contact Jeremie.

"So, what's the deal with this ex-boyfriend?" Odd asked as they climbed down into the sewers.

"I don't want to talk about it," Giana answered.

"Did it really end that badly?"

"Odd," Aelita warned. "Leave her alone."

They ran through the sewers, scrambling up the ladder to the bridge.

"We really need to bring our skateboards back down there," Odd said, catching his breath. They took off running again toward the factory.

"I can set up delayed self-virtualizations for us," Aelita said, as they ran down the stairs to the main level. "We just need to–"

Out of nowhere, Xander's specter landed on his feet on the floor in front of them.

"What the hell!" Odd shouted. "He must've been in the rafters!"

"Aelita, _run_ ," Giana said, shoving her toward the elevator. "We'll hold him off."

Aelita dodged the specter, sliding into the elevator and slamming the red button with her hand. It all happened so fast that Xander didn't have time to register it, and he instead advanced on the duo in front of him.

"See anything you can use as a weapon?" Odd asked.

"I have an idea."

Giana used her cane, fully extended, as a staff. She shoved it into the specter's gut, causing him to stumble back a few feet but otherwise not causing any damage. He took the weapon and discarded it, sending it flying to the far end of the room.

"Okay. Bad idea."

Aelita sat at the computer terminal, about to set up a delayed self-virtualization and simultaneously calling Jeremie's cell phone.

"Come on, pick up!" She slammed her fist down on the armrest.

"Aelita?" he answered.

"Jeremie! I've been trying to reach you – where the hell _are_ you?"

"I'm on my way with William and Sissi. Hang tight in the lab. You know that if you go alone and you're devirtualized, it's all over."

"And then we're hit with that stupid cooldown period, I know!" she said bitterly. "Okay. Be safe."

* * *

Xander's specter pushed Giana up against a wall. She tried to calm her breathing as they were practically nose to nose, her feet dangling off the ground. Being so close, she was able to see XANA's symbol flashing in his eyes. She used the momentum of the wall to kick forward, trying to catch him off-guard. It didn't work, and he tightened his grip.

"You don't get to do this," she seethed. She placed a swift uppercut to his jaw, sending his head back. He loosened his grip slightly, but not enough for her to free herself.

"Hey!"

Odd appeared off to the side, brandishing a crowbar. The specter dropped Giana to the floor and whipped around to spot the intruder. Charging forward with superhuman speed, he expertly ducked as Odd swung at him. They grappled, Xander trying to knock the weapon out of his hold.

Giana felt her phone vibrating in her sweatshirt pocket. The speech software told her it was a call from Sissi. She answered on the second ring.

"What is going on?" Sissi shouted. "Jeremie said there's an activated tower. Are you at the factory?"

"There's a specter," Giana said. "He and Odd are fighting. He's trying to block our way to the lab!"

"We're in the sewers," the girl responded. "The plan is for Odd and William to stay and fight while we go to Lyoko." She paused. "Shit."

"What's wrong?"

"We just got out on to the bridge. There are more specters guarding the entrance to the factory! Try to get to the lab. Jeremie told Aelita to hide there, so if you make it, she can virtualize the two of you."

"And if I can't?"

"Take cover."

She ended the call and tried to look around for anywhere to hide, as it seemed to be the better of the two options. She spotted a column with rivets in it to act as hand and footholds and scrambled up it as quickly as she could, making her way to the rafters.

"Okay," she said to herself. "If I can make it across, I can get down near the elevator and into the lab." She swallowed. "No time like the present to conquer my fear of heights."

She would've given anything to not have to walk across that beam. It was wide enough for her to do just that, and she had no other choice. She took another deep breath and focused on a point straight ahead as she slowly crept across the room.

Lo and behold, Xander's specter jumped on to her beam, standing less than a meter away. She stood stock still as he advanced on her.

 _This is not my day._ "Well," she said. "Here goes nothing."

She flattened herself against the cool metal, barely missing a shot of electricity from Xander's hands that would've hit her square in the chest, probably killing her. Closing her eyes, she rolled off the rafter, gripping the rivets in the side of the beam with her hands. She slowly inched herself toward the elevator, hanging a good few stories above the floor.


	12. Chapter XII

**Chapter XII**

* * *

 _Don't look down, don't look down. It's alright. You're not a hundred feet above the ground. You're not going to fall and splatter on the concrete._

Giana just kept repeating that to herself as she dangled from the beam, slowly inching her way toward the elevator. Xander's specter loomed over her; she stole a glance up at him and could see the bright balls of electricity forming in his hands.

"Damn it," she breathed. The bolts shot at her, but she managed to swing out of the way as they narrowly missed her head, instead zapping holes in the floor below. She felt something whiz past her, something that didn't come from the specter. She heard a thud. Whatever it was clattered back down to the floor. "What was that?" she asked, raising her voice.

"I threw a piece of metal at him!" Odd shouted. She could tell from his voice just how high up she really was, and she froze. "You're doing great," he continued. "Keep going! I'm trying to distract him!"

"Okay!"

She inched along the rafter beam – she was about halfway to the elevator, when her hands started sweating profusely. She missed a rivet and hung with one hand holding her body weight.

"Come on, focus," she told herself, gritting her teeth.

She caught the rivet with her other hand, hoisting herself back up on to the rafter so she could stand again. Xander was nowhere to be seen, however she heard the distinct sound of a fight raging on below her.

"You okay?" she shouted down to Odd as she continued her journey.

"Not exactly," he answered. She heard a thud, and the boy groaned. "Hey, mind telling me what exactly happened between you and this Xander guy?"

"I said I didn't want to talk about it!"

"Well, some information might be helpful in defeating him, even though he's being controlled by XANA! Some residual thoughts could be lingering in there, like something could trigger him to step down and fight the possession!"

"It's more complicated than that!" she answered. "He's dead!"

" _What_?" Odd sputtered.

"He was abusive," she continued. She held her head up high and walked in a T pose across the beam. "I broke up with him, but despite everything I still loved him as a person. I thought he had some good in him, somewhere. He killed himself about a month after I had to take out a restraining order against him – he was stalking me." She paused, taking a deep breath to refocus her energy. "Aelita's the only other person who knows." She conveniently left out William; she wasn't in the mood to field more questions.

She heard footsteps and voices below: Jeremie, William, and Sissi had finally gained access to the factory. She let out a sigh of relief, but not before taking a step back. She was nose-to-nose with Xander's specter again.

She swung a fist at the side of his head, but, much like last time, he didn't budge. His gaze hardened, and she could make out XANA's symbol flashing in his eyes again. She managed a swift knee to the groin, keeping her balance on the beam's narrow surface. The attack managed to knock him back a couple feet, but he came at her with a vengeance – he grabbed her by the waist, picking her up effortlessly. He flipped her so she faced the surface of the beam, and slammed her back down on to the metal with such force that, for a brief moment, her body went numb.

She groaned, spitting out blood. Xander's specter loomed over her, a grin forming on his face that she couldn't see. He raised a hand, his other one still holding a fistful of her shirt. He summoned a ball of electricity, readying to strike her through the heart. But out of nowhere, he was hit in the face with a paintball. It exploded upon impact, leaving a patch of neon green across his skin. He dropped Giana on the rafter again, stepping over her to approach his assailant.

It was Odd. He was behind her, on the beam.

"I stashed a paintball gun here a while ago," he explained, as if they were paying attention. "I knew it'd come in handy some day!"

He advanced on the specter as she mustered up the energy to swing herself over the side once more, holding on to the rivets to continue her journey to the elevator.

"Giana!"

Through the ringing in her ears, she vaguely heard William shouting at her from below.

"Let go!" he yelled in English. They'd taken to communicating in their native language in private ("Sometimes it's just _easier_ after a day of speaking French," she'd said once).

"Are you _crazy_?" she croaked, also in English. She coughed, another trickle of blood rolling down her chin. She raised her voice. "It's at least a three-story drop!"

"I'll catch you!" he said sincerely. "I'm right below you. Don't worry, just trust me!"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let go of the beam.

The fall wasn't as bad as she'd anticipated; in fact, it was almost as if it all happened in slow-motion. She was half-expecting to land on the ground, however – for the concrete to break whatever bones weren't already broken. Instead, she felt a pair of arms encircle her as it came to an end.

"I'm not dead," she whispered.

"Of course not," he said in a low voice. He set her down so she could stand on her own, quickly catching her again when she wavered and started to collapse. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know. I couldn't feel anything for about a minute," she admitted. "I think a couple of my ribs might be broken or something. And… and my head is killing me."

William frowned. "The whole side of your face is starting to bruise." He wrapped his arm around her waist. "Come on, you'll feel better once you're on Lyoko."

"What happened to the other specters?" she asked as they hobbled into the elevator. He pressed the red button to bring them down to the scanners, leaving Odd to momentarily fend for himself.

"We were able to defeat them. They weren't that strong." He smiled, but then faltered. "That's him, isn't it?"

She knew who he was referring to. Rather than give an audible response, she nodded weakly, closing her eyes.

"Odd and I can fight him," he assured her. "The others were able to avoid him and get to the lab – Sissi and Aelita are already on Lyoko. We're heading straight to the scanners."

"You come out the same way you go in, right?" she recalled. "So when this is all over, I'll still be like this?"

"Unless Jeremie does an RTTP, yes."

"Why would I do a return trip? What happened?"

William stiffened as Jeremie's voice came through the surround.

"Well?"

Giana stood in one of the scanners, bracing herself against the inside to keep from falling over.

"She's hurt," William said curtly, answering him in French. "Virtualize her. Now."

"I already have a timer set," Jeremie said. "Just hold on for fifteen more seconds." He paused as the scanner door closed. "Is a return trip really necessary?"

William climbed up the ladder and into the lab. He strode over to the blonde, lifting him from the chair by the collar of his shirt so they were eye-to-eye. "Are you out of your _damn mind_?!" he shouted. "When the tower's deactivated and she comes back to earth, she'll still have those same injuries, you _know_ that! Her ribs are possibly broken. She's coughing up blood. Hell – she was basically paralyzed for a good _minute_! How are we going to explain that to the staff in the emergency room?"

"Not to mention my parents," Giana said through the headset. She was already on Lyoko and took off running to join Sissi and Aelita. "I'm an ocean away from them. How do you think they'd react if they found out I was hurt? They'd take me back to Boston in a heartbeat."

Jeremie considered it. "Alright. We'll do a return trip." He looked at William. "Now, please let me go."

He released him, and the blonde smoothed out his shirt as he settled back into the chair. "I'm going back up to help Odd," William said, heading to the elevator. "Keep me posted."

* * *

"There you are!" Sissi exclaimed as she saw the brunette. They were in the forest sector. "Come on, Jeremie said we're not too far from the tower."

Lasers shot at them, and the trio turned to find four Tarantulas emerging from behind the trees. Aelita was pushed back by a shot to the shoulder.

"Four against three, that's not fair," Giana said as she drew her staff in its most compact form, tapping the side to expand it. She charged at one of the creatures, jumping at the last second to dodge a string of lasers. Her staff was now at its full length as she drove it into the hitpoint. It exploded. "Jeremie, add that to my monster count!"

"Where are you?" Aelita asked as she fired an Energy Field at another monster and missed. "Damn it!"

"I'm right here!" the brunette exclaimed. "You're joking, right?"

"I can't see you either," Sissi said, executing a back handspring to avoid the lasers. She stabbed the second Tarantula with her staff. Two down, two to go.

"She's visible on my end," they heard Jeremie say. "Unless…"

"That's it!" Aelita exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "That's your power!"

"Invisibility?" Sissi inquired.

"Yes! Just like I can transform the terrain on Lyoko, and you can heal people. Yumi has her Telekinesis, Ulrich can Triplicate and has Super Speed, William has Super Smoke…"

"Odd doesn't have a power."

"He used to have a Future Flash, but I got rid of it," Jeremie said. "It was kind of useless. And, well, you know about the Teleportation debacle." He paused. "But, he does have a shield that sometimes comes in handy."

A laser shot Giana square in the back, causing her to ripple into view again. "Whoa." She smiled. "That was awesome."

* * *

"Hey!"

Xander's specter whirled around to spot William below them, wielding a second paintball gun. He jumped from the rafter.

"That's right, over here!" He pulled the trigger, and out shot an orange paintball to the specter's chest. It joined the array of colors already covering his sweatshirt – the Buckingham Browne & Nichols emblem was hardly visible.

Xander grabbed the paintball gun, easily snapping it in half, discarding the pieces to land at the far end of the room.

"Shit," Odd said, firing another round from above. He scrambled down the column, his own paintball gun hanging from a strap slung across his chest.

William executed a swift uppercut to the jaw, causing Xander to stumble back. The specter regained his balance quickly, swinging a low kick to try and catch the boy off guard. He jumped, avoiding it.

"What did you guys do to stop me to when I was sent here as a specter?" he asked Odd, who had reloaded his paintball gun and shot yet another round.

"Well," the boy started, darting out of Xander's way as he charged toward him, "we didn't. We fought you like this and tried to hold out long enough until the tower was deactivated."

"You're joking, right?"

Odd shook his head.

"Damn it."

The specter advanced once more. William took a running start as he summoned all of his strength to shove Xander up against a wall, lodging a hard punch to the side of his jaw.

He heard a crack. Xander spat out blood.

William kept beating into him, landing kicks and punches wherever and whenever possible, taking the blows as they came. At one point, he had the wind knocked out of him by a strong kick to the gut. But he kept fighting.

He vaguely heard Odd shouting for him to stop. But he didn't listen.

"William, stop!" the boy yelled again, pulling him away from the specter. "You did your damage. Look."

Xander lay in a heap on the floor, covered in paint and blood. He twitched.

"You don't understand!" William cried, breaking away from Odd's hold. "He hurt her! She loved him, and he hurt her, and he's _dead_! He's dead, and this _damn specter_ , this _thing_ that XANA sent here – it deserves to suffer pain a thousand times worse than what she was put through!"

"You know?"

" _Of course_ I know!"

"She told me only Aelita knew!"

"Well–" _Damn._ "Giana told me anyway! It was the main reason why she turned me down in the first place – why she wasn't ready to date other people yet."

Xander picked himself up off the floor and came at them again. William landed another uppercut to his jaw, causing his head to snap back and his body to crumple once more to the concrete.

"Calm down." Odd placed a tentative hand on the older boy's shoulder. He adjusted his grip on the paintball gun. "Once Aelita deactivates the tower and Jeremie does the return trip, everything'll be fine." The specter moved again, and Odd fired two more paintballs, hitting him square in the forehead.

William shook his head, shrugging away from Odd's hand. He launched himself at Xander a second time, however before he could get any damage in, he found himself sailing through the air, landing with his back against the wall at the opposite side of the room. He slid down to the floor, stunned at the force of the throw.

"Don't tell me I did that, too," he wheezed. "When I was under XANA's control."

Odd's silence was deafening.

"I almost wish you just said yes."

"Can you get up?" he asked. "Can you help me?"

William stood, slowly, pushing himself away from the wall. "Yeah." Ignoring the ringing in his ears and the pain slowly inching down his entire body, he trudged forward. "I think so."

He grabbed some heavy cables and worked with Odd to secure them around Xander in the form of a strait jacket.

"Hopefully that'll hold him until the tower's deactivated," he said. He gingerly touched the back of his head, his hair sticky. His hand came away bloodied. "Damn it."

"You've really never fought a specter before, have you?" Odd inquired. He winced as he felt a bruise forming on his face.

William shook his head.

"You have a lot to learn."

Xander broke through the cables and turned to smoke, absorbing into the floor.

"Where'd he go?" William asked, stunned.

"I don't know, but the tower's still active. Come on." Odd grabbed his arm, and they ran into the elevator. He slammed the button to take them down to the lab.


	13. Chapter XIII

**Chapter XIII**

* * *

Aelita ran into the tower, phasing through its entrance. "Alright, Jeremie, I'm here."

"Good," he answered. "I'm about to set up the coordinates for the return trip."

"Better hurry–" Giana was cut off by a fifth Tarantula's laser hitting her in the side, the act devirtualizing her.

"No!" Sissi shrieked. She shot out a beam of her healing power.

It was too late. Giana was gone.

Sissi charged at the monster, stabbing it in its hitpoint. It exploded. "Damn it!" She threw her staff to the forest floor, stomping her foot.

* * *

The scanner opened, the brunette crawling out of it to be greeted by Xander's specter. He was covered in blood and paint.

"Serves you right," she spat, glaring up at him. "Everyone always thought you were so _great_. They put you up on a pedestal in school. You were popular. You were in honors classes with me since the sixth grade." She rolled out of the way, escaping a bolt of electricity shot from his hand. "I used to think so, too. _I loved you_ , Xander, but I knew the truth: Somewhere along the line, you changed." She stood, bracing herself against the open scanner. "You weren't the knight you thought you were. You became a coward." She ducked, dodging another bolt of electricity – this one left a burn mark in the wall. "You hurt me, and I shouldn't have had to put up with it. No one should."

He dug a hand into her shoulder, pinning her to the wall. She grabbed at his wrist in a futile attempt to pry herself away.

"XANA's control hasn't changed you one bit," she continued. "You're _dead_ , Xander, and you're _still_ the same person." She looked him in the eye, still struggling to break free of his hold. "Remember last year's Head of the Charles Regatta? You got drunk at Brienne's party afterwards. You were so violent." She kicked him. He didn't budge. "It was the beginning of the end. If Tori and James hadn't found us…"

She heard the elevator door open and tried again in vain to escape him. She felt a pop in her shoulder as his hand moved in a fluid motion, dislocating it. Black spots clouded her vision from the pain.

"Get away from her!" William bellowed, knocking him to the ground, focusing all his anger on XANA, on the specter, on trying to defeat something that he once was. But before he could get any punches in, Xander threw him against the wall so hard, William fell to the floor in a heap, the impact knocking him unconscious.

Odd ran to help her up, guiding her back to the elevator. "I'm sending you up to the lab," he said. "Aelita's having some trouble deactivating the tower." He pressed the button, ducking out as the door closed.

She vaguely heard herself start to mumble a response before their communication was cut off. She staggered out as soon as the lab's secure mechanism opened. Jeremie was there immediately to guide her to a spot to sit; she leaned against the wall.

"I figured out what's wrong with the tower interface," he informed her. "Just hold on."

She nodded, closing her eyes. The ringing in her ears had returned. The duo failed to notice Xander entering the lab, a crackle of electricity forming in his hand. Her eyes snapped open as she tried to slide out of the way. He stood over her, blocking her from moving.

"Jeremie," she breathed. She looked Xander in the eye as the bolt shot from his hand.

"Return to the past, now!"

* * *

Giana woke with a start, sitting up, drenched in sweat. She wiped a hand across her brow and blinked a few times, looking around. It took a moment to realize she was in William's room, in her underwear but also wearing one of his T-shirts. It was the previous night.

She took several deep breaths, trying to get her heartrate under control. Shoving the blanket aside, she fished her phone from her bag a few feet away on the floor. The lock screen said it was almost four in the morning. Her watch was charging alongside his, on the desk.

But he wasn't there.

She sent him a text in English: **Where are you?**

A moment later, she heard his phone vibrate. She shook her head, plugging hers into a battery powered charger.

She felt her face and poked at her ribs, heaving a sigh of relief as they didn't hurt, and her face wasn't bruised. She rolled her shoulder back and forth, relaxing as she realized it was still connected to her body.

"Thanks, Jeremie," she whispered, flopping back on to the bed. She picked up her phone again and pressed the call button on Tori's contact card.

Her friend answered immediately. "Hey," she said. "Isn't it four in the morning in France?"

"But it's only ten at night in Boston," Giana countered.

"I miss you."

"Ditto." She smiled.

"Why are you calling at this hour?"

"I…" She paused. Why did she call her, anyway? Sure, they'd been best friends since preschool, but she couldn't say anything about XANA or Lyoko, or the specter. "I had a nightmare," she lied. "But it felt _so real_. Xander was here, Tori, and he just kept beating the crap out of me. It was terrible. Worse than that time after Brienne's party, the night of the Regatta."

She shuddered. "Don't remind me." The memory resurfaced – she'd tried so hard to block it from her mind. "But, Giana," she started sympathetically, "you really should get some help. Xander's not going to hurt you anymore. He's gone."

 _If only you knew,_ she thought. She was silent.

Tori twisted her dark hair into a messy bun. "You still there?"

"Mhm."

"Look," she started, sitting cross-legged on her bed. "I know you still blame yourself. But honestly, I think there was more going on that we didn't know about." She paused. "I talked to Jack after cross-country the other day – he said their dad was also abusive, and you know the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And, I mean, Xander's mental health must've been suffering for him to want to commit suicide. I don't think it was just you that caused it. Their home life was really shitty."

"That's what William said," she mumbled. "But Xander never mentioned his dad to me – all I knew was that their parents were divorced. And Jack and I never really talked much."

"You told me about William," Tori recalled, pulling up her friend's Facebook profile on her tablet. "Tall, dark, and brooding, right?"

"That's him." She smiled. Odd had gotten Milly and Tamiya to take some candid group photos for an art project, and naturally he had uploaded them to the social media site.

"He's cute," her friend said, swiping through the album. "But, wait." She put the tablet down. "You told him about Xander?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Tori smiled. "That's a big step for you. You and Xander were _it_. You were, like, the power couple last year. Every girl in our class wanted to be you."

"I know," she said quietly.

"They just didn't know what was going on behind the scenes."

Giana changed the topic. "What's new at home? How's school?"

"Well," she started, "Andrea, Rachel, and Brienne have elected me leader of the group – we all miss you, and we really can't wait for you to come home for the holidays. Bryce is still trying to have sex with me. You probably can't hear it, but Julianna and Carmen are fighting again." She laughed. "Basically, nothing's changed."

Giana arched an eyebrow. "You haven't slept with Bryce yet?"

Tori's sisters' bickering grew louder. She closed the door to her room, their parents yelling at them to shut up and go to bed in Italian. "Actually, I think I'm going to break up with him," she answered. "I had an epiphany the other day." She reclaimed her position on her bed. "He's kind of… repulsive."

"No offense, but I'm glad you realized that. He's a total ass."

"Yeah," she said idly. "Now, Taylor Upham, on the other hand…"

"Not the headmistress' son, Tori!" Giana groaned. "We've been over this!"

* * *

"Dunbar!"

It was Jim in all his glory, patrolling the grounds, flashlight in hand. His arms were crossed as he shown the light in William's face. The boy flinched.

"What are you doing outside at this hour?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Come on, I'm taking you back to your room!"

 _No, no, no, no, no, no, no._

Jim walked behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder to move him forward. "March!"

"Jim, I can explain–" He stopped short, turning around to see the deepening scowl on his face. "Never mind."

They were silent for the three minutes it took to go inside and head up to the boys' floor. As soon as they reached his room, Jim said, "I better not see you wandering around outside like that again! In all my years of working here, I never…"

"No, no, no, no, no," Giana practically whispered. "Tori, I have to go."

"What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow."

She ended the call, throwing her phone back in her bag. In a flurry of movement, she felt around the floor for her clothes, gathering everything in her arms. Her eyes darted around the room in the dim moonlight, hindered by her lack of vision; she quickly and quietly slid the door open to William's closet, shutting it to hide herself. She held her breath and heard him turn the key in the lock.

"Okay, Jim," he muttered. "I–"

He stopped as the light from the hallway caught her blue cardigan on the floor.

 _Shit._ Turning back to face the PE teacher, he flashed a fake smile. "I promise, I won't do it again." Shutting the door in his face, he locked it and took a step back. "I'm definitely going to regret that later," he mumbled in English.

Giana emerged from her hiding place. "Sorry," she said, also in English. "I didn't have enough time to find it." She dropped the rest of her clothes in a pile.

"It's alright," he replied, shedding his coat. "It's dark."

"Did you get into trouble?"

"Not as much as we would've if he'd found you."

They laughed, and he kissed her.

"But, seriously, he didn't even give me a detention. It was very unlike him."

They got back into bed, and she smiled. "Well, in about three hours, he's going to catch me heading back up to my room. And I'm going to give him a lame excuse about my grandparents dropping off that cardigan."

"You know," he started, kissing her, "maybe I will go with you guys to Disneyland Paris."

"If we can convince Jeremie, it would almost be a double date."

"What about Sissi?"

"She has plans with her father."

He ran a hand through her hair.

"I have to call Quentin in the morning," she said, yawning. "Tell him to bring the other car."

He arched an eyebrow. "Who's Quentin?"

She forgot he didn't know. "My grandparents' butler."

He opened his mouth to say something, but promptly closed it.

"So, where did you go?"

"I needed to get some air." He drew her closer. "I just went out and stood in the courtyard."

"I lived through my own personal Hell," she said quietly. "Xander was here, alive as could be under the circumstances, and I just…" A lump formed in her throat.

"I know."

A tear escaped her eye. "He almost killed me."

"I know."

"Am I a terrible person?" she whispered. "For loving him even though he did all those horrible things?"

"No."

He leaned over her, kissing her again, this time longer and deeper. She pulled him closer, tangling a hand in his hair. They broke apart, hearts pounding.

"You can't control who you love and who you don't."


	14. Chapter XIV

**Chapter XIV**

* * *

XANA had been quiet as they relived the following day. They all needed a break – even Jeremie was eventually convinced to join them at the theme park. But he kept checking his phone, paranoid about missing an activated tower. The trend continued into the latter part of the week.

It was late Thursday night, after their dinner date with Odd and Sam, and William was alone in his room. He had his laptop open, linked to the supercomputer mainframe, trying to find anything else they could use to destroy the AI. Any little detail they might've missed.

There was a knock at the door. Rubbing his temples to fight off an oncoming headache, he told whoever it was to come in.

It was Aelita.

"Here's that book I borrowed," she said, placing a copy of _Ready Player One_ on his bed. "It was really good, in an ironic way. It almost reminded me of Lyoko–"

She stopped, a blue sweatshirt catching her eye.

She pointed to it. "What's that?"

William sprung from his chair, grabbing the garment and rolling it into a ball. "Nothing."

"No." She took it from him, unfurling it. "Buckingham Browne & Nichols–" Her head snapped up, looking him in the eye. "This is Xander's shirt!"

He nodded vigorously.

She checked the label. "Oh, no, it's too small to be his." Realization struck. She gasped, holding it out at arm's length. "This is _Giana's_ shirt!"

"We were studying together," he answered all too quickly.

"For what? She's in our year, not yours."

He opened his mouth, only to shut it and bite his lip, avoiding eye contact.

She smiled, shaking her head slowly. "You're sleeping with her."

"How did you–"

"Jeremie and I are sleeping together," she said, folding the shirt and placing it at the foot of his bed. "I'm sure he undoubtedly told you."

"Yeah, but–"

"You can just… tell."

His eyes widened. "Is it that obvious?"

"No." She sat on the edge of his bed. "Sometimes you and Giana put on a façade where you hate each other." She cracked a wry smile. "I mean, I can tell, but someone else might not be able to. You just have to know what to look for."

He sank into his desk chair. "Tell that to Sissi."

"Sissi can be too… involved. She wants everything to be perfect and everyone to be coupled off. But she hasn't been seeking anyone out since Ulrich and Yumi became a thing."

"She was so obsessed with him. Not unlike how I was with Yumi."

"Whatever happened with that?"

"I finally realized we wouldn't work. She'd rejected me one too many times, and although it took a while, I was able to accept it." He chuckled. "I actually kind of had a thing with Heidi over the summer. She lives near me."

She leaned back, her eyes widening. "Heidi Klinger?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "It wasn't anything – just a fling, really. And we made out a few times. I just wanted to forget about everything I'd been through, what with being under XANA's control for so long."

She placed her hand on his. "I'm sorry we never took your feelings into consideration. We shouldn't have ignored you when you came out of that scanner."

"You had every right." He stood up. "You didn't know whether I was really here, or how the possession affected me. I mean, how could you?"

"We both lost a lot of things," she said quietly, folding her hands in her lap. "I lost my parents and ten years of my life. You lost almost a whole school year, and our trust, initially."

"I'm sorry about your parents."

"Thanks." She smiled. "Odd and Jeremie's families are great surrogates."

As if on cue, Odd burst through the door.

"Hey, William," he started, "can I borrow a–" He noticed the sweatshirt. "Hey, what's–"

"Odd," Aelita cautioned.

"No, no, no," he said, unfurling it and holding it out. "Buckingham Browne and… wait a minute." He looked at William. "Why do you have Xander's shirt?" He checked the sizing label. "I take that back! This is–"

"Odd!"

William snatched the garment from him, folding it back up and dropping it in a drawer under his bed. He kicked it shut. "Can we forget about the damn sweatshirt for a minute? What is it you wanted, Odd?"

"Oh, right." He blushed, awkwardly eyeing Aelita. "Well, uh, I snuck Sam back into my room, as you know, and I was wondering…"

Sighing, William opened the bottom drawer of his desk and dug out a box of condoms, throwing one to the blonde. He caught it expertly and pocketed it. "Ulrich doesn't have any?"

"He mentioned once that Yumi was on the pill." Odd shrugged. "Even if he did, I wouldn't know where to look."

William rolled his eyes. Giana was also on the pill, but he kept the box just in case. You couldn't be too careful.

"Does Sam's dad know where she is?" Aelita asked skeptically.

"She told him she was staying with Giana," Odd answered, flashing a grin. He rushed out the door, leaving it open. "Thanks, buddy!"

"It's funny," Aelita started, standing up to leave. "Ulrich's in love with Yumi, and she's a year older than him. You're in love with Giana, and you're a year older than her."

"I never said I was in love with her."

"You don't have to," she said, walking out the door. "It's written all over your face."

* * *

"Alright," Jeremie started, once they were all situated in his room. It was the night before school started up again. He turned to Ulrich and Yumi. "So, as you might not be aware, we had a XANA attack last week."

"It was awful," Giana commented. She sat on Jeremie's bed between William and Sissi, their backs against the wall. William subtly took her hand and squeezed it. Vega was curled up on the floor nearby, sleeping.

Jeremie nodded. "Unfortunately, we haven't found anything new we can use to stop this."

"So, basically, we're screwed," Ulrich deadpanned. "XANA's going to keep getting stronger, just like last time."

"At this point… yeah."

"The multi-agent program is useless," Aelita supplied. "The data I recovered from Sector Five wasn't helpful, either. We're at another dead end."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Yumi asked. "Maybe we can find the Replikas those fragments are hiding in and destroy them again. You can rebuild the Skid, right?"

"I can," Jeremie started, stealing a glance at his computer. "But I don't know how helpful that'll be – we don't even know where they're hidden."

William chose that opportunity to speak up. "I've also been working on this in my spare time, and I can't find them either. It's like XANA's operating under a mask: We can't see him, but we know he's still out there." He passed his tablet to Jeremie. "Here, this is the data I've compiled."

The blonde read through the diagrams and lines of code, Aelita staring at the screen over his shoulder. She narrowed her eyes as he handed the tablet back.

"This is ridiculous," she said, crossing her arms. "We were able to defeat XANA once – why is it so much more difficult this time around?"

"He's obviously gotten stronger," Odd said. "I mean, he's at the point where he can send out the Scyphozoa, and that specter we fought last week was one of the most brutal yet." He eyed Giana. "I think he's playing to our weaknesses."

"Like the time he sent a clone of Yumi here to destroy the scanners," Ulrich recalled. "And he had the clone try to seduce Jeremie."

"You're kidding," Sissi said. She'd been quiet since they started the meeting. "An AI can play off of human emotions like that?"

"I mean, look at what happened last week!" Giana said, standing. "XANA sent my dead ex-boyfriend here as a specter, and he almost killed me." She sank back down to the edge of Jeremie's bed, Vega resting her head on her owner's leg. She could feel everyone's eyes on her, save for William, Odd, and Aelita. "He was abusive. So, when he came here as a specter, it was almost like when he was alive."

Yumi put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I've been the victim of so many XANA attacks – more so than anyone else here. But it's a whole different story when you know your assailant." She turned to Jeremie. "So, what's the plan?"

"I don't know," he admitted, standing. He started to pace. "I mean, I could _maybe_ write a tracking program to fish out XANA's fragments from the far corners of the internet. But, finding them and destroying them are two different things. And, that's if the program will even work."

"At least it's something," Aelita said. "I'll help. We can start tomorrow, after class."

* * *

Begrudgingly, Giana decided to listen to Tori's advice: She sat in the school psychologist's office the following afternoon, after classes had let out. Vega slept on the floor at her feet. Jeremie had even switched the schedules to put Yumi in her place should an attack strike.

"So, Giana," Dr. Klotz started, glancing down at his notebook. "You mentioned you had some survivor's guilt over the death of your ex-boyfriend. Do you want to talk about that?"

She stole a glance off to the right, noticing a bright piece of artwork on the wall. "He committed suicide," she said bluntly. "At first, I blamed myself, but after talking with my friend Tori, I'm not so sure it was entirely my fault." She paused. "It's not really survivor's guilt at this point – it's more like PTSD."

He scribbled something in his notes. "His name was Xander, correct?"

She nodded.

"Can you tell me about the conversation with your friend?"

"I called her because of a nightmare." She told him the same lie she'd given Tori. "Xander was here, and he just kept hurting me. Tori had informed me she talked to one of his brothers, Jack, and he said their dad was abusive when they were younger. Xander had three brothers: Jack, his twin, and Andrew and Micah – they're younger." She paused. "I didn't know about their dad. All I knew was that their parents had divorced the summer between fifth and sixth grade. That was before we were really friends."

"You mentioned Xander hurt you in this nightmare," Dr. Klotz said quietly. "Was he like that in real life?"

She stared down at her hands. "Yes."

He frowned. "I see." He kept writing in his notebook. "Was your family aware?"

"Not at first," she replied. "I didn't tell my parents or my brother until after I'd broken up with him, when he'd started following me home from school."

"You said you're close with your family, right?"

"Yes, of course. But I was afraid to tell them."

"I understand." He turned to a new page in his notebook. "Could you tell me about when you first felt unsafe around Xander?"

"He'd had outbursts before, but there was one time in particular." She got a faraway look in her eyes. "It was last year, after the of Head of the Charles Regatta. It's a boating thing." She took a sip of water. "My friend Brienne had a party that night, and someone brought alcohol. I hardly saw Xander until maybe around one in the morning. In the weeks leading up to it, he was acting weird; he was manipulative and controlling. I mostly avoided him. This time, though, he was drunk."

"The drinking age is twenty-one in America, correct?"

She nodded. "The party was winding down – we were outside, alone. And he just kept hitting me. He'd become incredibly violent. I tried to defend myself, and he'd just get angrier." A lump formed in her throat. "Luckily, Tori and her boyfriend at the time found us. Xander tried to get me to go home with him, but I wouldn't. He pushed me down half a flight of concrete steps. James punched him so hard in the face, that he fell over. But it could've been the alcohol." She paused. "They put him in a cab home. Tori and James took me to the emergency room – there was glass embedded in my arm and my wrist was broken. I told the doctors I fell. All but one of them believed me."

She rolled up her right sleeve to expose a cluster of small scars. Dr. Klotz lowered his gaze sympathetically.

"I knew it was time to end things," she continued. "Aside from the physical abuse, he'd become incredibly controlling, as I'd said before. He wanted me to dedicate all my free time to him, and I had my own life to live. When he found out I was accepted here to Kadic, he threw a huge fit. He was very insecure."

"How long were you and Xander together?"

"About a year."

"Were you, uh… intimate with each other?"

She nodded, her face turning a deep red.

"Do you think that had something to do with his change in behavior?"

"Probably? I don't know." She considered it. "Yeah, maybe. Why do you think that is?"

"It may have instilled a sense of neediness, which could in theory explain his behavior – not that I'm condoning what he did. But you stood your ground, which is very admirable." He leaned forward, clasping his hands on the desk. "Would you care to share what happened the day you found out he was dead?"

She took a deep breath. "It was unseasonably warm out – this was back toward the beginning of this year, actually. My brother had a hockey game. It was a home game, pitting us against a boarding school from Cape Cod. I'd gone with my friends to watch, and we won, and then I went to the mall with Andrea, Rachel, and Brienne. There was a dance coming up; we were trying on dresses. Tori had to go home and babysit her younger sisters." She closed her eyes. "She called and said there were medical personnel everywhere – she lives next door to Xander's family. Jack was sitting on their front steps. I heard him in the background: He was dazed, he just kept repeating that Xander was dead. He'd gone out to the car to get his phone or something and found him. There was nothing they could do."

She started to cry. "I thought it was because of me. It was about a month after I took out the restraining order out against him – he was following me around, he'd show up at my house unannounced, and as if that wasn't enough, he latched on to my brother, Nico, and tried relentlessly to convince us that he'd changed. I thought it was because I broke up with him, that he was in such a low point in his life, and I didn't see any of the signs, and I could've prevented it. So, I guess I did have survivor's guilt."

He handed her the box of tissues.

"A part of me was happy, though. And I knew that was a terrible thing to feel. But I was so _relieved_ that he was gone. It meant he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else like he hurt me."

"I think that's a completely normal response, given the circumstances." His watch beeped. "Unfortunately, our time is up. It's completely up to you whether you want to continue these sessions; don't feel like you have to. I'm here to listen, not judge."

"Thank you." They stood, and he opened the door so she and Vega could exit. He spotted William, leaning against the wall.

"Ah, William," Dr. Klotz said. "I don't recall you scheduling an appointment."

"I didn't," the boy answered. He stood up straight and smiled when he saw Giana.

The psychologist looked back and forth between the two, shrugged, and went back into his office, closing the door.

* * *

"You know, I'm proud of you," William said as the duo headed to the cafeteria. It was time for supper.

"Thanks," Giana replied, a small smile playing at her lips. "Did Jeremie buy the excuse that I was visiting my grandparents?"

"Yeah, but he thought it was weird you weren't staying with them for dinner."

She laughed as they got their food, seeking out an empty table. They were the first of their group to arrive. "Trust me, Rosa's cooking isn't that bad," she started, twirling some spaghetti around her fork. "But Ingrid, my grandparents' housekeeper, makes a mean bouillabaisse."

He arched an eyebrow. "Your grandmother doesn't cook?"

"Oh, she does," she said between bites. "But not always."

Aelita joined them, sitting down next to the brunette. "How are your grandparents?" she asked.

"Fine," she answered. "They're thrilled I'm going to the _Bal_ , though my grandmother still wants to set me up with a date."

"You told her I was going with you, right?" William asked. Odd and Ulrich appeared, followed by Jeremie. It was Sissi's night to sit with Hervé and Nicholas, to try and squash their rousing suspicions.

"I did, but she's being really persistent. No matter what I tell her, she thinks her way is the right way. My grandfather said he was going to talk to her about it tonight, so we'll see." She paused, taking a sip of water. "Regardless, we're still going together."

"We've made some progress on the tracking program," Jeremie announced, changing the topic. He smiled. "It knows what to look for, and the rest is organic. If everything goes accordingly, we should be seeing some results within the next couple of days."

"That's great news," Ulrich said.

Odd smiled. "If it works, it's bye-bye XANA."

"It's not going to be that easy," Aelita said. "But at least it's a step in the right direction." She ate part of a meatball, wiping sauce from her mouth. "Just because the program can pinpoint XANA's location, doesn't mean it'll be a piece of cake defeating him. We haven't gotten that far."

"We'll just have to wait and see what data it comes back with," Jeremie reassured. "I'm going to start rebuilding the Skid tomorrow, just in case."


	15. Chapter XV

**Chapter XV**

* * *

 _They were in the ice sector. Aelita was unconscious, trapped in an aura of black smoke. He strode to the edge of the glacier, levitating the girl precariously over the digital sea. His focus broke as one of Yumi's fans hit him in the arm._

 _He dropped Aelita, but she managed to escape on her own accord, thanks to the wings Jeremie programmed her. She fired an Energy Field at him and missed._

" _William," Yumi said, caressing his cheek. "I know you're in there. Come on, you can fight this. Please."_

 _For the briefest second, he was himself. He was no longer controlled by XANA. It was faint, but he could feel his old self deep down, trying to claw his way up._

 _Then he grabbed her wrist, holding her in place as he slashed through her with his Zweihänder. She was devirtualized immediately. He smiled, turning to smoke and escaping into the digital sea._

* * *

William awoke in a cold sweat, his alarm clock telling him it was three in the morning. Peeling himself out of bed, he put on a pair of socks and laced up his sneakers, grabbing his coat from the hook by the door.

Momentarily, he contemplated going upstairs to Giana's room. Instead, he grabbed his watch from the charger and secured it to his wrist, locking the door as he left.

The crisp air of November hit him like a cold shower. He found his way to the track and soccer field and started running.

Although he'd seen the campus deserted many a time due to late-night Lyoko excursions, it was different when you were wide awake. Usually after fighting XANA, he'd come back and crawl into bed, falling asleep almost instantly due to the exhaustion of the battle. But the nightmares had resurfaced, and he'd already discarded the rest of the vodka – Thomas Jolivet wanted to buy it off of him, but he didn't need the money, and he didn't want to be known as _that guy_ – so he just handed it over, no questions asked.

Plus, he didn't want Giana to find it. He'd been in her room when Jack had called her the other night, and from her side of the conversation, he'd learned Xander also had a drinking problem.

He definitely didn't want to be that guy.

He ran until his side ached, and even then, he continued to push himself. He'd been outside for almost an hour at that point, and he couldn't see a reason to go back in. His Apple Watch told him he'd ran a good few kilometers thus far, and burned a hell of a lot of calories. He was already halfway to his move goal for the day.

"Dunbar!"

 _Damn it!_ He continued the lap in a brisk walk, shoving his hands in his pockets. Jim prattled on, his flashlight pointed right at him.

"This is the second time in less than a month I've caught you outside after curfew! What's going on with you, huh?"

The boy remained silent, slowing to a halt. He stared at the ground.

"Answer me!"

"I needed some air, Jim," he mumbled, still staring at his shoes. "I needed to run."

"There's perfectly good air inside," Jim continued, crossing his arms. "And if you want to run so badly, join the cross-country team."

He let out a breath, sitting down on the wet grass at the edge of the track.

Jim's expression softened. "Something's obviously bothering you." He approached him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"I understand. I'm like that too. Why, I remember when I had a stint as a chef in Boston…" He stole another glance at the boy. "Never mind."

William perked up. "You worked in Boston, Jim?"

"Oh, right. That's where De Luca's from, isn't it?" He let out a hollow laugh. "I had other jobs in the US, but the chef gig was the most pleasant. Boston's a beautiful place – so rich in history and vibrant with culture. Almost like a scaled-down New York City." He cleared his throat. "But, enough about my past. Why were you out here, running in your pajamas? It's after four in the morning."

What was he going to tell him? That he couldn't sleep due to night terrors? That he was captured by an AI and forced to do its bidding for almost a year? That he had been aware the whole time, and knew how badly he had hurt his friends? That he wished he could just take it all back? That he wanted _so damn badly_ to start over?

That he was in love, just like Aelita had said?

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"William," Jim started, the malice completely gone from his voice. "You can always talk to me. Ask Sissi – she's been coming to me with her problems for years. Her father's always too busy for her."

"Thanks, Jim," the boy said, standing up. "But I don't think you can help with this one."

He walked back to the dorms without another word, shrugging his coat and shoes off, climbing into bed. He fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

"Have you guys seen William?"

It was breakfast. Sissi and Aelita gave Giana knowing glances as they bit into their food. The boys were nonplussed.

"I texted him earlier, but he didn't respond," the brunette continued. "Should I be worried?"

"I don't see why," Odd said, finishing what was left on his plate. "Sometimes he's like that, where he'll just go off the radar for a bit. He'll show up."

"Yumi said they had an exam this morning," Jeremie commented. "Do you think we should go back and wake him up?"

As if on cue, the older boy approached their table, a tray of food in his hands. He set it down between Odd and Sissi, practically falling into his chair. His hair was disheveled and he had dark circles under his eyes.

"You look like hell," Ulrich deadpanned. He finished the rest of his hot chocolate.

"You didn't sleep again last night, did you?" Giana inquired.

William rested his head on his hand, bringing a full cup of coffee to his lips. "I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled.

The table went silent. Odd got up for seconds.

"Any results from that program?" Sissi asked. She stirred some honey into her tea.

"Not yet," Jeremie said, checking his phone. "Hopefully by tomorrow."

Nicholas sauntered over to them, Hervé a few feet away. Odd had returned, shoveling some scrambled eggs into his mouth.

"Hey, Giana," Nicholas started, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It's Nicholas. I was wondering…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Would you like to go out to eat sometime? Or to a movie?"

The girl blushed, ignoring Sissi, who was trying, and failing, to stifle a laugh. Aelita eyed her with curiosity. William had been on the verge of falling asleep in his food, but picked his head up as soon as he heard the question. Ulrich and Odd focused on their food, and Jeremie on his phone.

"Oh, I…" Giana started, shooting Sissi a glare. "Nicholas, I'm sorry, but I… I kind of had a bad relationship back home. I'm not really ready to see other people yet."

Hervé took the opportunity to step forward. "You're lying."

She was taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"You're lying, aren't you?" he repeated, pointing a finger at her.

"I am not!" she practically shouted. The noise at the surrounding tables died down.

"Hervé it's alright," Nicholas said, holding his hands up. He turned back to the group at the table. "It's fine. I understand. Really."

"Hervé, why don't you go bother someone else for a change?" Ulrich suggested. "And leave her alone, she hasn't done anything to you."

Giana stood, pushing her half-eaten tray of food away. "I'm not hungry anymore." She motioned to Vega, who climbed out from under the table, shaking herself off. They turned and left the cafeteria.

Nicholas grabbed his friend's arm, pulling him back to their table. "Come on."

William got up, downing a second cup of coffee. He left without another word.

"Well," Odd started, taking the duo's leftovers and emptying them on to his tray. "That could've gone better."

* * *

It was lunchtime. William and Giana walked into the cafeteria and sat at their usual table, Sissi once again choosing to spend the meal with Hervé and Nicholas in an attempt to do some damage control.

"He's an ass," William said, casting a glance at the trio behind him. He rested a hand on Giana's shoulder. "Don't let him get to you."

"It's not that," she said, taking a bite of her sandwich. "I just hate feeling like I have to validate myself to them." She looked him in the eye. "You've been having the nightmares again, haven't you?"

He nodded, focusing straight ahead. He let go of her shoulder and ate his food.

The boys appeared, with Yumi and Aelita in tow. They'd ceased their chattering as soon as they saw William's forlorn expression.

"What's with him?" Odd asked.

Jeremie's phone went off. He dropped his tray on the table, his drink spilling.

"Jeremie!" Giana exclaimed, pushing her chair away from the encroaching puddle of soda.

"There's an activated tower," he said, his eyes glued to the screen. "Mountain sector, tower five." He stole a glance behind him. "Someone get Sissi."

"I'll go," the brunette said. She stood, Vega following suit, and she told the dog to guide her over to Sissi's table.

"Come on, Aelita." Odd grabbed the pink-haired girl's arm. Jeremie was right behind them. "Let's go."

Ulrich cast a glance between Yumi and William. The girl was already getting up, throwing an apple into her bag, while the older boy rubbed his temples as if he were fending off a headache.

"Hey," he said, grabbing William's arm and pulling him out of his chair. "Come on. We have to defend the home front."

The trio stopped in their tracks.

"You don't get to play the victim!" Giana shouted. Hervé glared at her.

"Oh, wait," Ulrich started dryly, a smile forming on his face. "She looks like she's about to punch Hervé into the next century. I gotta see this."

"Hervé," Sissi started, standing next to the brunette, "I don't know why you're so personally offended by her rejecting Nicholas, but you need to get the hell over it."

Hervé stood, pointing an accusatory finger at Giana. "I don't hit girls," he started venomously, "but if I did–"

William was over there in a flash, grabbing the boy by the collar of his shirt and shoving him up against a wall. An audible gasp rippled through the students, the room going completely still. Milly had started a livestream from her phone, making commentary, while Tamiya took photos with hers "for the paper."

" _What_ did you say?" he threatened, inches away from Hervé's face.

"I'm not afraid of you," the boy answered, trembling. His hands balled into fists.

"You should be."

And then William punched him, the blow producing a resounding crack.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Giana asked.

Ulrich had also taken out his phone, getting everything on video just like Milly. "Huh?" He cast her a sidelong glance. "Oh, yeah, whatever."

Hervé started screaming, trying to grab at his face. His eyes were watering and he heard ringing in his ears as his nose started to bleed, most likely broken. He managed to punch William back, earning the older boy a black eye.

They fell to the floor in a flurry of limbs, but it was obvious William was winning. After what seemed like eternity, Hervé was able to extract himself and ran from the room, glasses askew and shirt wrinkled, off to the infirmary to find Yolanda. William took Giana's hand as he passed her, pulling her and the dog out into the courtyard. Sissi, Ulrich, and Yumi followed suit.

"I get what you were trying to do, William," Giana started once they were outside, pulling away, "but I'm not a delicate flower that needs protecting." She turned to Sissi. "Let's go. I need to drop off Vega. I'll meet you in the boiler room."

The girls walked off in separate directions.

"What's the attack this time?" William asked, securing his bag and rubbing his face.

"We need to talk about what just happened," Ulrich said. He held out his phone with the video on replay.

They heard screaming and turned to find a group of younger kids being chased by a Tarantula.

"XANA materialized another one of his monsters!" Yumi exclaimed. She spotted her brother. "Hiroki!"

"Yumi!" the boy shouted, running toward her. Johnny was right on his heel. "Yumi, what's going on?"

"It's going to be okay," she said, kneeling down to his eye-level. "You need to hide." She turned to Johnny. "Go to the cafeteria and stay there. Tell everyone we said to shelter in place."

The boys nodded, taking off with their classmates toward the lunchroom. Yumi straightened up, shouldering her backpack.

"We need weapons," she said. "We'll get what we need from the garden shed, just like last time."

"Last time?" William sputtered. "You mean this happened before?"

"Twice, actually," Ulrich answered nonchalantly. "Come on."

* * *

"De Luca!" Jim bellowed. "What are you doing here in the middle of the day?"

The girl narrowed her eyes, locking the door to her room. "I could ask you the same question, Jim." She unfolded her cane.

"Don't talk back to me." He put his hands on his hips and opened his mouth to say something more, but was cut off by the sound of something in the stairwell. They turned around to find a Tarantula crashing through the double doors into the hallway, its lasers primed to shoot.

"What the hell is that thing?" he shouted, taking a fighting stance. "De Luca, stay behind me."

Ignoring him, Giana darted out into the corridor. Once she was close enough, she jumped, grabbing on to the Tarantula's snout so she could get a better angle. She shoved her cane into the monster's hitpoint at the same moment it managed to fire a laser, shattering a light in the ceiling. It collapsed, and she went down with it.

She stood after a moment, smoothing out the wrinkles in her shirt. "Now," she said, turning to face Jim. "You were just about to give me a detention?"

He nodded, mouth agape.

"Care to rescind that?"

Again, he nodded.

"Thanks."

"De Luca," he started, concerned, "there's some glass in your arm from when the light shattered."

She gingerly touched where he'd indicated. "Oh." Her expression darkened. "Second time's the charm."

He frowned. "You should see the school nurse–"

"I'm _fine_ , Jim." She exhaled. "But I need your help. My cane is stuck inside the Tarantula. I need to get down to the boiler room, and I can't take Vega with me."

"The boiler room?" he inquired.

"Yes. Can you do it?" She grabbed his elbow. "You'd be a hero."

He considered it. "Alright."

* * *

Sissi checked her watch. "Where the hell is she?" she said aloud.

A moment later, she saw the brunette enter from the stairwell. She wasn't alone.

"Jim?" she said shrilly. "What happened?"

"It's a long story," Giana explained. She took Sissi's elbow, opening the door to the passage and pulling her through. "Let's go."

"Hey, wait!" Jim protested. "What am I supposed to do? And where are you two going?"

"Go to the cafeteria!" Giana told him. "And get something to use as a weapon! Protect the other kids – we'll be fine!"

Jim stood in the empty room hopelessly, as the door to the passageway slammed shut. A moment passed before realizing what he had to do, and he ran off to find something to defend the other students.

He was going to be a hero.


	16. Chapter XVI

**Chapter XVI**

* * *

"Jeremie, we need some help!"

Odd had just devirtualized another Hornet, when a Krab snuck up behind him, shooting a laser square at the Overboard. He fell as his vehicle disappeared.

Giana rippled back into view after defeating another Krab. "Why is this always so damn complicated?" She threw her staff, defeating another Hornet. "Sissi's already out, and Odd's like, two hits away from being devirtualized."

"Laser Arrow!" He missed the Krab that shot his vehicle, taking a laser to the shoulder. "Damn it!" He somersaulted out of the way. "Hey, I can make it! No problem!"

"You can't clear a way to the tower?" Jeremie asked.

"There are too many monsters!" the duo shouted.

Aelita ran out from behind a boulder, firing an Energy Field at the last Hornet. It exploded. "They're right, Jeremie. We may need some backup."

"The others are too busy guarding the school," he said. "There are still at least two Tarantulas somewhere out there, and need I remind you, we only have one usable scanner!"

"I'll go back and help them," Sissi offered, heading to the elevator. "Who do you want me to send over?"

"Yumi."

The girl nodded, disappearing as the lab's secure mechanism closed.

Fifteen minutes later, Yumi was on a descent down to the scanners.

"I'm here," she said. "The situation at school is getting pretty heated. Jim, Sissi, William and Ulrich are defending the cafeteria. There are burn marks and shattered glass everywhere." She stepped into the scanner, its doors closing automatically. A moment later, she landed on Lyoko.

"Has anyone been hurt?" Aelita asked.

Yumi shook her head. "Not that I know of."

The Scyphozoa reared its ugly head, effortlessly trapping Giana in its tentacles.

"Guys!" Jeremie warned.

"We're kind of busy right now, Jeremie!" Odd shouted back. "This isn't exactly a walk in the park! We're still trying to clear a path to the tower!"

The monster dropped the brunette, and when she turned around to face the trio, they noticed XANA's all-too-familiar mark flashing in her eyes.

"Shit," they said in unison.

"Aelita, _run_ ," Yumi said, pushing her toward the tower. She threw one of her fans. Giana deflected it with her staff, and the weapon came back to land in Yumi's grasp.

"Where'd she go?" Odd asked.

The brunette had used her invisibility against them, sneaking up behind him – she reappeared and plunged her staff into his back. He fell to his knees, devirtualizing in the process.

Before Yumi had time to react, she noticed Giana standing atop a black Manta. The very same one that used to belong to William.

"Manta!" she commanded. "Attack!"

Yumi deflected the lasers with her fans, but the fight had pushed her back so she was at the edge of the mountainside, in danger of falling into the digital sea.

"Jeremie," she called.

"I see you," he said. "I can't reprogram your vehicle, but I can get you out of there. Aelita's almost to the tower."

Crescents of light flew from the tip of Giana's staff, not unlike William's sword when he'd first been possessed. Yumi did her best to avoid them, but one of them hit her in the stomach. The blow pushed her off the mountain as she was devirtualized.

She staggered out of the scanner, avoiding the wreckage as she climbed the ladder up into the lab.

"Sorry," Jeremie said. "I wasn't fast enough."

"It's alright." She sat against the wall, next to Odd. "You did your best."

"She's going after Aelita!" Jeremie slammed his fist against the chair's armrest. "No, no, no, this can't be happening!"

"There's nothing we can do?" Odd asked.

"It would take too long for Ulrich or William to get here from the school. I just hope…" He watched with bated breath as Giana and the Manta caught up to Aelita, just as she was about to enter the tower. They trapped her in an unyielding force field and dragged her toward the digital sea. "AELITA!"

What they didn't know, was the Aelita heading for the digital sea was a decoy. The real girl in question fired two Energy Fields at the duo, destroying the monster and breaking her friend of the possession.

Giana fell to the mountain floor as Aelita ran into the tower.

"She's a genius!" Jeremie leaned forward, typing rapidly as the materialization window opened. "I'm bringing in Giana. She might be unconscious. You guys may want to head down there."

The duo nodded as they scrambled down the ladder, making it just in time for the scanner doors to open. They caught her as she fell.

* * *

"Sissi, dear, mind telling me how you know so much about these _things_ that are attacking us?"

She blanched as she tried to think of a viable answer to her father's question. She raised a finger to protest, but Jim spoke up.

"De Luca seemed to know what they were," he said, firing a few shots from a nail gun. "She had no trouble defeating the one in the dorm. You should've seen her, sir! It was amazing!"

"We don't have time for that now," Ulrich said. He charged toward one of the remaining monsters with the chainsaw he'd stolen from the garden shed. He cut the Tarantula in half, watching with pride as it crumpled to the ground in the courtyard. He turned to Jim. "You did a great job making sure the other kids were safe."

Jim beamed. "I was a Navy SEAL, Stern, if you remember. I'm just doing my job."

Sissi arched an eyebrow. "Is there anything you haven't done, Jim?"

"Uh…" He paused, thinking. "Well–"

"What is going on here?" Jean-Pierre demanded, cutting him off. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you children brought these monsters here to disrupt your classes!"

"That's not true, Daddy!" Sissi protested. "If we did, why would we be fighting them?"

William lured the final monster to him, driving the axe he'd stolen into its hitpoint. It crashed to the ground, smoking.

"What's taking so long?" he muttered, gritting his teeth. "The tower should've been deactivated by now!"

"William!" Sissi shrieked.

The boy looked up to be greeted by a fourth Tarantula. He dove to the ground with Ulrich and Sissi following suit, as the monster shot its lasers at the glass in the cafeteria windows. A moment later, they heard the distinct sound of it falling.

They were enveloped by the white light from the return to the past.

* * *

"What exactly happened?"

They were all gathered in Jeremie's room, save for Yumi and Giana. William crossed his arms as he waited for an answer.

"She was caught by the Scyphozoa," Jeremie replied, hanging his head. "There was nothing we could do."

"So, she devirtualized Yumi and Odd, and dropped a decoy of Aelita into the digital sea." William scoffed. "Sounds exactly like what I did when I was possessed."

Yumi opened the door, poking her head in. "She's still asleep." She entered the room. "Even with the return trip, the Scyphozoa took a lot out of her."

"Don't you think we should get Yolanda or something?" William inquired.

Jeremie shook his head. "No. Just give her some time."

"It's been half a day, Jeremie," Ulrich pointed out. "We had to explain away her absence in all our afternoon classes. If she's still like this tomorrow–"

"She _won't_ be," he asserted, standing.

William pushed off from the wall he'd been leaning against. "Well, I'm going to go check on her." He felt six pairs of eyes burning holes in the back of his head as he stalked off, closing the door behind him.

"I wonder if the scanners are actually becoming a health risk," Jeremie commented, now slumped in his chair. "At this point, I want to believe that clone of Franz Hopper sent by XANA two years ago."

"You should look into it," Ulrich insisted. "I mean, it's not just her – every time any one of us comes out of those scanners, we deal with nausea and extreme fatigue. It's a miracle we're not getting detentions left and right for falling asleep in class."

"We're going to miss dinner!" Odd whined, changing topic. "Rosa was serving steak tonight!"

"We'll order out," Sissi suggested, taking out her phone. "Who do you want me to call?"

* * *

Another half hour had passed. Giana heard someone screaming in protest in the distance, shouting no over and over again. It took her a moment to realize it was her – she'd been mumbling in her sleep, though it sounded much louder in her dreams.

She sat up, looking around. Her room was mostly dark, save for the desk lamp that had been turned on. William was sitting on the floor, petting Vega. The dog rolled over and stood, shaking herself off as she realized her owner was awake.

Giana rubbed her temples. "What the hell happened? I remember I was on Lyoko–" Her head snapped up, eyes widening. "I was possessed."

William stood, stretching. "Yeah."

"I devirtualized Odd and Yumi."

He nodded.

"And I tried to throw Aelita into the digital sea."

He sat next to her. "Pretty much."

Her expression fell. "I'm a terrible person."

"No, you're not."

"It felt so…"

"Evil?" He took her hands in his.

She shuddered. "Yeah."

"I know." He put a finger under her chin, lifting her head up so they could see eye-to-eye. "If there's one thing I've learned from waking up in the middle of the night screaming so damn often, it's that we're _real_. XANA might still be out there, but we're stronger. We were able to defeat him once – we'll do it again."

He kissed her. She pushed him so they were laying down, working to undo a couple buttons on his shirt.

He broke away, smirking. "I don't think now's quite the time–"

The door to her room flew open, revealing Sissi and Aelita. They entered, closing it behind them, not the least bit surprised to find the couple in such a compromising situation.

They scrambled to sit up, William smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt and redoing the buttons.

"You _know_ ," Giana accused.

"Yeah," the girls said in unison.

"How?"

"Just a hunch," Aelita said, flashing a smile.

The brunette checked her watch. "It's after seven. I missed the whole afternoon."

"We just told all our teachers you weren't feeling well." Sissi shrugged. "No big deal. Nothing happened."

"We're ordering takeout for dinner," Aelita supplied. "We're going to eat in Jeremie's room."

Giana stood, rummaging in the far corner of her room. She pulled out a bowl and filled it with some food for Vega. Setting it down, she told the dog to eat, and then turned to the others.

"Aelita, I'm so sorry–"

The girl held up her hand to stop her. "It's fine. I created a decoy and that's who you threw into the digital sea – obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be here right now." She smirked. "You're a fierce throw with that staff. You got me right as I was about to enter the tower."

* * *

Sissi remained quiet throughout their dinner. She'd secluded herself in a corner of the room, near the door, picking at her portion of the Chinese food.

"Hey, Sissi, are you paying attention?" Jeremie prodded.

She looked up. "Huh?"

"I was saying we have to be more vigilant." He let out a sigh. "XANA's gotten too strong, what with sending his monsters here again. The last two times he'd materialized Kankrelats and Krabs, and it went about as well as you could expect."

She stood, clutching her half-eaten containers of chicken-fried rice and dim sum. "I think I should distance myself for a while."

She looked around to find all seven of them staring at her, open-mouthed. A piece of food fell from Odd's hand back into his carton.

"Why?" Ulrich asked.

"Hervé and Nicholas, and my father… they're all getting too suspicious. I'm afraid that they're going to find out the truth, about why I've been sneaking off with you guys." Aelita opened her mouth to protest; Sissi held up a hand for her to stop. "And yes, I know we can't have them discover the factory or the supercomputer." She looked down at her feet. "It's different for me: I see my dad every day, and he always hits me with twenty questions every week when we have our dinners together."

"I get it," Yumi said. "It's the same with me and my family. But I've been fighting XANA for a few years and I've still managed to keep the secret, despite their pestering."

Sissi sat back down. "I'm not saying I can't keep the secret." She picked at her food again. "I know you all told me about how I was supposed to be a member of the group when Jeremie first discovered the supercomputer, but then I was attacked and brought my father and Jim to the factory. However, you only see the professional side of my father – sometimes he can be controlling and overprotective, because we're the only family we have; aside from my grandparents, but they live far away."

They looked at her with sympathy.

"Maybe if we talked to your dad, would that help?" Giana suggested. "We could tell him we just formed a study group or something, and the only reason why we like to go off campus a lot is for a change of scenery."

"I don't think he'll buy that."

"Why not?" Odd chimed in. "He seems like a reasonable guy, when he's not berating me for my grades."

Sissi stared down into her food. "Okay," she muttered. "We can try talking to him. Hervé and Nicholas I'm not too worried about for now, but we should at least do something about my dad."

"Milly uploaded that video to YouTube," Aelita commented, changing the topic.

Giana glared. William leaned back against the side of Jeremie's bed from his position on the floor.

"How many views does it have?" he mumbled.

"A lot."

The older boy turned to Jeremie. "I want a new outfit on Lyoko."

The blonde practically dropped his carton of lo mein. "What?"

"You heard me." He stood, stretching. "I have a giant XANA symbol on my chest. I'm still wearing what I had on when he possessed me."

"You of all people should know it takes _months_ to reprogram something like that!"

"You said the same thing about the Skid!" he shot back. "You told me a couple hours ago that you're almost done with it! Just let me _have_ this, Jeremie. I can do it myself – I found the code for it a while back."

Jeremie narrowed his eyes. "And put everything else on the back burner just so you can play fashion designer?"

"I think William has a point."

Everyone turned to Ulrich, uncharacteristically coming to the aid of his former rival for Yumi's affection. Odd practically choked on his food.

"I mean," he continued, "you were able to redesign our outfits. Maybe you can work together to finish it faster."

"We don't have time!" Jeremie shouted.

"You made time to create a new weapon for me," Giana pointed out. "I'm sure you can redesign his outfit."

"Even if I can just go back to the avatar I had when I first went to Lyoko, I'd be fine with that," William offered. "I just... I hate baring the constant reminder of when XANA had control over me."

Jeremie sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Just let me finish the Skid first."

"Deal."


	17. Chapter XVII

**Chapter XVII**

* * *

"I am very disappointed in you three."

Giana, William, and Hervé all sat in Principal Delmas' office the following morning, the brunette side-eying the boys as she crossed her arms.

"With all due respect, sir," William started, standing, "he was threatening her."

"Sit back down, Mr. Dunbar." William complied. Delmas turned to Giana. "Is that true, Miss De Luca?"

"Yes, sir," she said softly, averting her gaze to the floor.

"Well, then." Jean-Pierre stood, clasping his hands in front of him. "You may go."

"Thank you, sir." She stood, Vega standing with her. She took the dog's harness handle and left, telling her to take her outside, closing the door.

"As for you two," Jean-Pierre continued, leaning forward on his desk. "Four hours of detention."

Hervé stood. "Why me? I'm the victim here!"

"Sit _down_ , Mr. Pichon!" Jean-Pierre commanded. He turned his computer monitor to show Milly's color commentary YouTube video. Unpausing it, he sat back. "As evidenced by Miss Solovieff's footage, you were _both_ involved in the fight that took place yesterday afternoon. Therefore, you will both suffer the consequences."

Hervé twitched with anger. William slumped in his chair.

"You may go," Jean-Pierre said, turning the monitor back around.

They got up and left without another word.

"I can't believe I have to serve detention with you!" Hervé shouted, once they were outside. "All because of your stupid girlfriend!"

He turned on him. "She is _not_ my girlfriend!"

Hervé threw his hands in the air. "Oh, come off your high horse! Everyone at school knows! It's the worst kept secret since Odd's dog!" He jabbed a finger at his chest. "She didn't have a sob story back home – she was covering up your secret relationship!"

"You know, Hervé," William snapped, "ever think you got detention because you're a jerk?"

He stalked away, heading to the cafeteria, leaving Hervé alone under the arches.

* * *

"I finished rebuilding the Skid," Jeremie announced, sitting down with the others at breakfast. He took a sip of his coffee. "We can start the exploration tonight – the scan actually found a new Replika."

"Count me out," William mumbled. "I have detention."

"That's okay," the blonde replied. "The Skid can only seat five. Aelita usually pilots it, and then there are four Navskids."

Sissi jumped with excitement. "Can I go?"

"I thought you said last night that you had to distance yourself," Odd recalled.

She took a sip of her tea. "It's just one night. My grades have been good this term, and I have no plans with my father. I should be fine."

"Giana?" Aelita prodded. "Do you want to come with us?"

"Thanks," she started, "but I'm going to my grandparents' for dinner and have no idea when I'll be back."

"Oh." Aelita frowned. "I was hoping you would join us."

"Hey, that reminds me." Ulrich turned to the brunette. "Can you help me with my Italian homework?"

"Sure," Giana said.

"You don't want _me_ to help you?" Odd asked incredulously.

"You said it yourself that you only know bits and pieces from when you were little," he replied dryly. "Plus, if your test scores are anything to go by…"

Odd turned to Giana. "Why are you taking Italian anyway? You're fluent!"

"It's an easy grade." She smirked. "Plus, German always sounds so angry."

"Tell me about it," Ulrich mumbled. He had a flashback to one of the many times his father had berated him in German, as they spoke the language at home.

"Can we get back to the mission now?" Jeremie insisted. "We really need four people to go: Someone to back up Aelita when she destroys the supercomputer in the real world, and two people to stay on the Replika to watch the Skid."

"Well, I can't do it," Ulrich replied. "Yumi and I are seeing the new _Avengers_ movie. We got the tickets in advance and everything."

"I'll go," Odd said. "I had a date with Claire, but apparently she'd rather go out with Thomas Jolivet."

"I thought Claire hated you, anyway," Aelita pointed out. "And what happened with you and Sam?"

"I thought Claire and I made up, but I guess not," he replied, biting into a banana. "And Sam… I don't know. I thought everything was fine after we saw each other last, but I got a text from her recently that said she wanted to see other people. I don't know what her problem is; she's really flakey."

"The sooner we can get this done, the better," Jeremie interjected, refocusing their attention. "It shouldn't be too difficult this time, what with…" He eyed William.

"What with me not being possessed by XANA and there to ruin the destruction of the Replika," William supplied, letting out a breath. "Right."

Jeremie looked to Giana.

"Fine," she said. "I'll make sure I'm back in time."

* * *

"This supercomputer is located in Boston, under the city hall," Jeremie told the group. They were waiting to be transported from another forest sector Replika to the location in the real world.

"Alright, Aelita," Sissi said. "Let's do this."

"Um…" Jeremie rubbed the back of his neck, not that they could see it.

Sissi scowled. "What?"

"I was thinking you could stay back at the Skid with Odd," he said quickly. "Giana knows the lay of the land, and…"

"Fine!" She threw her staff to the forest floor, stomping her foot. "I'll babysit your stupid submarine!"

The other two girls exchanged a glance before being teleported to the city.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Odd said, cracking a smile. "You'll get to increase your monster count."

They braced to take on the four Krabs approaching them, firing lasers at the Skid.

* * *

"It's daytime again!" Aelita said in wonder. The girls were dropped in the southeast corner of the Boston Common, near the Boylston T station.

"It's the time difference," Jeremie pointed out. "Remember when you went to the Amazon?"

She nodded.

"Alright, you're going to want to head–"

"I got this," Giana said, motioning for Aelita to follow. "Come on."

"Remember, you're there, but no one can see you unless they're being controlled by XANA. There's also a very high chance you'll run into some monsters."

"Jeremie, I assure you, even if we were spotted, no one would say anything," the brunette replied dryly. They left the Common and hugged Tremont Street, heading northeast past the AMC Boston Common cinema and The Thinking Cup. "There's an anime convention this weekend. People would probably think we're in cosplay." She noticed the coffee shop. "I had a date there once. They make really good lattes."

"This is no time for sightseeing!" Jeremie protested.

"Hey." Aelita slowed her pace. "Wouldn't anyone recognize you?"

She thought for a moment. "That's a good point. Although my friends and I are from the other side of the Charles, in Cambridge, we sometimes frequent this area."

"I thought you said you were from Boston," Jeremie cut in.

"Cambridge is part of the Boston metro area," Giana replied. "It's kind of like saying I'm from New York City when I mean Manhattan."

They continued up Tremont Street, passing the Park Street T station and Suffolk University Law School. Aelita looked around in amazement at the crowds of people – it was mid-afternoon where they were and some of the schools had just let out. A group of girls in Catholic school uniforms brushed past them.

"It's weird," Giana said offhandedly, brandishing her weapon. "You know how I can see perfectly on Lyoko? Well, since we still have our powers and everything, I retained the perfect vision. Everything's… different." She looked to her friend. "What are you so fascinated by?"

"I've never really been to the US," Aelita replied. She stopped short, causing Giana to bump into her. "That boy looks like Xander!" she exclaimed, pointing up the street. "Except, his hair's a little darker."

"That's Jack, his twin," the brunette clarified. She dropped her weapon to the ground. "With… _Tori_?"

They gawked at the couple, holding hands and chatting animatedly, as they turned away from them and disappearing down Beacon Street.

Giana picked up her weapon. "I don't believe this!"

"Is she a friend of yours?" Aelita asked. They continued walking.

A laser shot at them before she could answer. She threw her staff in its shortest form at the offending Kankrelat, destroying it immediately.

"Pay attention!" Jeremie warned. "This is important!"

"We know!" the girls said in unison. They continued their journey up Tremont Street at a run, passing the intersection at Beacon Street where they'd seen Tori and Jack. After a near-collision with some skateboarders, they made it to the hub, running into the City Hall Plaza past the Government Center T station and the Starbucks with the giant golden teapot above its door.

"We're here," Giana said. "Now what, Jeremie?"

"You should see an unmarked door around the south side of the building," he responded, staring at a satellite feed of the area. "Open it, and take the stairs leading down into the catacombs. Once you're there, I'll be able to give you a more precise location."

"I see it!" Aelita exclaimed, pointing to an older, rusted out entrance. She threw an Energy Field at it, blasting the door to smithereens.

Giana arched an eyebrow. "You think anyone's gonna notice that?"

Aelita grabbed her wrist. "It doesn't matter; the handle was probably stuck anyway." They started down the stairs. "Let's go!"

* * *

"Hey, Jeremie!" Odd called. "Have they found the supercomputer yet?"

"Almost," he replied, switching over to monitor the girls' progress. "They ran into some possessed politicians, but managed to dispose of them. Why?"

"Oh, no reason," Sissi said dryly. "We're just so _bored_ , is all." She dodged another laser. They'd managed to defeat the Krabs, but XANA had of course sent more monsters, and now they were tangoing with a Tarantula and three Bloks.

"Just hang in there," he said. "They should be back in about five minutes."

Odd was devirtualized, leaving Sissi to both fend for herself and protect the Skid.

"I don't think I can hold on much longer!" she shouted. "These things are brutal!"

"We're back!" Aelita called.

Sissi spun out of the way of a string of lasers and was met by the other girls. The trio were quickly transferred to the Skid, Aelita piloting it down into the net before the Replika exploded.

"Good job, guys," Jeremie said. "Make it to the hangar, and I'll bring you back in."

"We have company!" Sissi shrieked. "What the hell is that thing?!"

"It's a Kongre," Aelita said casually, firing a torpedo at the offending monster. She succeeded, their enemy exploding upon impact. "They always travel in groups of three or five."

"Well, I found its lackeys," Giana warned, pointing off in the distance. "Let Sissi and I go after them! Can't we detach from the Skid in these things?"

"It's not worth it!" Jeremie countered. "Your work is done; just make it back to the hangar in one piece and you can come home."

"You're no fun!" Sissi whined.

* * *

It was late, sometime after midnight. Sissi knew Jeremie was awake from the sliver of light under his door. She didn't bother knocking.

"You should go to sleep," she said, closing the door once she'd entered his room. She flopped on the bed, staring at the wall.

"It's–" he checked the time on his computer. "Almost one in the morning." He stretched. "You should be sleeping, too."

"Where did you even find this poster?" she asked, staring at Einstein's tongue sticking out at her.

"My mother got it for me as a gift when I first started here," he replied, going back to the program he was writing. "I find it charming."

"Do you really think Aelita can find her mom?"

He went rigid, turning around in his desk chair; he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I hope so." He yawned. "She's been reaching out on social media with no luck, and I haven't found any accounts under her mother's name." He paused. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I haven't seen my mom since I was little, either," she replied quietly. "But I _know_ she's out there – I get cards from her on my birthday and gifts at Christmas. I just… I can't imagine how it must be to not know where your mother is."

"You know her father also died to save the world. He sacrificed what was left of him to help us shut down XANA for good – or so we thought."

"I know."

He cast a glance at his phone.

"I feel awful for all the hazing I put her through two years ago, when she was new." She sat up. "This is going to sound dumb, but I was jealous of her: She fit into your group so easily, masquerading as Odd's cousin. I wanted to be friends with you all _so badly_ , and when you finally accepted me, I was so happy… but then I found out you were all keeping this big, dangerous secret." She stood, pacing. "This is _real life_ , Jeremie. Someone could get seriously hurt."

"It's not dumb. And, that's why we have the return trips – but, as you know, we have to be careful: If someone dies, there's no way of bringing them back."

Her face turned pale. "How do you know that?"

"Franz Hopper said something about it in his diary – don't worry, _we_ didn't kill anyone."

She almost wanted to ask what happened, but figured it was better not to know.

"Do you think William and Giana are seeing each other?" he asked, turning back to the computer once again.

She let out a hollow laugh. "Absolutely."

"It's funny, because sometimes they put on a front, almost like they hate each other."

Sissi remained quiet. Now that Ulrich was with Yumi and William and Giana had somehow found each other, she was the only one in the group – save for Odd – who wasn't paired off. Sure, she had a few dates with Theo, and had seen some of the other boys in their year on occasion, but other than hanging out with Jeremie and his group, she wasn't too comfortable branching out. Especially since she was known for having Hervé and Nicholas as her cronies for the past few years.

Jeremie turned back around. "What's wrong?"

She bit her lip. "I'm just wondering… Do you ever think it was a mistake? Finding the supercomputer, turning it on, fighting XANA? It's an unbelievable pressure to have the weight of the world on your shoulders." She sighed. "Also, I wouldn't mind having a boyfriend."

He smirked. "The boyfriend thing will come in time, I'm sure – you just have to branch out more. Maybe go out with Thomas Jolivet; I heard his date with Claire didn't end too well."

"Thomas is a creep," she muttered. "But, thanks."

"As for the supercomputer… Well, when I came to Kadic, you know I was sort of considered a teacher's pet because I participated a lot in class, and I'm smart. I didn't have any friends and kept to myself a lot because everyone else had known each other, seemingly, forever." He yawned again. "It wasn't until Lyoko that I truly felt like I was part of something. It gave me my friends, and Aelita, and I wouldn't trade all the normalcy in the world for it."

"But…"

"But, you're right: It is stressful. Granted, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and William can set up virtualizations if Aelita or I can't – we'll walk you through that soon, don't worry." She noticed he didn't mention Giana. "But, being tasked to save the world from a malicious artificial intelligence? You wonder why I don't sleep at night."

"Because you're freaking out?"

"That, and I'm trying _so damn hard_ to find a way out of this for good. We can't just gallivant off to any Replika in the net and destroy it – tonight's was easy compared to some of the others. The multi-agent program is useless, and no matter how hard I work on it with Aelita and William, we can't come up with a viable solution. I'm worried we'll have to fight this war for the rest of our lives. I'm afraid."

"You're smart, Jeremie. There's no way in Hell you can't figure this out."

"Thanks, Sissi. But I'm starting to have second thoughts."

* * *

 **Note: I wrote a one-shot, entitled Backup, explaining the beginnings of William and Giana's relationship as I let it develop in the background of this story. It might help clarify some things, though it's not necessarily crucial to the overall story.**


	18. Chapter XVIII

**Chapter XVIII**

* * *

It was almost three in the morning. Someone was pounding on Giana's door. Vega let out a soft _woof_ , as she was startled from her sleep, but settled back down on her bed under the window.

The girl opened her eyes wearily, glancing at the alarm clock.

"You should probably answer that before they wake up the whole building," William whispered.

"No," she groaned, pulling the covers up over her head.

The banging continued. She slowly got out of bed, rubbed her eyes, and unlocked and opened the door to find Jeremie. He was still in his clothes from that day, but had added shoes and a coat.

He blushed when he saw her. As she was close enough to notice his facial expression, she looked down at her pajamas: A silk sleep romper with lace straps that she'd bought on her most recent trip to Italy, when she visited her paternal grandparents.

She folded her arms over her chest, scrutinizing him. "What?"

"There's an activated tower–"

She held up her hand to stop him. "I just went. I'm exempt."

"Yes, I know." He avoided eye contact. "Do you have any idea where William is? He's not in his room and he hasn't been answering my texts."

She pulled him into her room, shutting the door behind them. Flicking on the desk lamp and blinking rapidly at the change in light, Jeremie gave Vega a pat on the head, as the dog had come over to lick his hand.

William emerged from the cocoon of blankets in a T-shirt and boxers, fumbling to put on his socks and jeans as he was only half-awake. He rubbed sleep from his eyes, grumbling about late-night Lyoko trips and how XANA never gives them time off.

"An AI doesn't have to sleep," Jeremie commented, hearing his complaints, "so, why should we?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe so we don't get sick?" Giana pointed out, sitting on the edge of her bed. "In case you forgot, sleep deprivation can lead to health problems." She eyed the blonde. "Aelita told me you could stand to get a full eight hours just like a normal person."

"When you're trying to save the world, there's no rest for the weary," he said curtly. William had finished dressing. "Come on."

"Jeremie, I need my shoes and coat," he pointed out. "Give me a few minutes."

"Fine. But, let's hurry – Ulrich and Aelita are waiting downstairs, and Yumi's already on her way!"

Giana shoved the boys out of her room and into the corridor. "Go save the damn world!" She stole a quick kiss from William as the duo snuck away, through the double doors and into the stairwell.

Sissi poked her head out into the hall, eyeing the brunette. "Cute PJs," she commented. "Is there another activated tower?"

Giana nodded.

"Who's going this time?"

"Ulrich, Yumi, and William." Jeremie and Aelita went without saying.

Sissi opened her door a little further, slipping out into the hallway and closing it behind her. She walked across and into Giana's room, sinking down to sit on the edge of her bed. The brunette closed the door and leaned against it. Vega came to rest her chin on Sissi's lap.

"This is crazy," the girl remarked, petting the dog. "I don't know how much more I can take, being woken up in the middle of the night to go fight monsters."

"I find it invigorating," Giana deadpanned.

Sissi arched an eyebrow. "Really?"

"No! I was being sarcastic!"

* * *

Yumi back-flipped on to the Overwing, Aelita jumping on behind her. The vehicle soared toward the tower in the desert sector.

"You're almost there!" Jeremie said. "William! You're losing too many lifepoints!"

"That's fine by me!" the older boy replied, deflecting a Krab's lasers with his Zweihänder. "Maybe if I'm devirtualized quick enough, I can squeeze in a little more sleep before class!"

"It didn't _look_ like you'd been sleeping when I–"

"Shut up!"

Ulrich slid on his knees under the Krab that had been chasing them, driving one of his katanas straight down its middle. It wobbled for a moment before exploding, the boys pumping their fists in triumph.

"Good job," William praised, helping him up.

"Look out!" Jeremie shouted. "Two Tarantulas, coming up behind you!"

Four lasers hit William in succession. He fell on his knees to the desert floor as he was devirtualized.

"Damn it!" Ulrich plunged a katana through one of their hitpoints, while Yumi threw her fan at the other, ending in simultaneous explosions. "I hate these things!"

"Don't worry," the blonde replied. "Aelita's in the tower." He leaned back in the chair at the console. "You guys did great – that's probably one of the fastest trips yet."

"Do we even know what the attack was?" Yumi asked, staggering out of a scanner.

"No clue." He closed his eyes. "All I know is, we're getting much better at this."

"When are you going to show Sissi the virtualization process?" Ulrich questioned, wiping his brow as he came up into the lab by way of the ladder. He sank to the floor next to Yumi, Aelita joining them a moment later.

"Soon," Jeremie replied. "I actually talked to her about it earlier. She's very eager to learn."

William had left to head back to the school as soon as he walked out of the scanner. The others slowly made their way out of the factory and on to the bridge, bleary-eyed and bitter at the sun already beginning to rise.

"My parents never saw me come in last night," Yumi said, stifling a yawn. "I told my brother to let them know I was staying with you, Aelita – I lied about having a project or something and that I needed to concentrate."

"Okay," the girl shrugged, also yawning. "We do have a couple more hours before breakfast; maybe we can actually get back to sleep."

* * *

It was the next night, at dinner. Sissi had sat at their table again, choosing to snub Hervé. Although she had invited Nicholas to join them, he declined, opting to stay by his friend.

"What's wrong, Giana?" Ulrich asked. "You've hardly touched your food."

"My grandmother wants me to host a high tea," she said, idly pushing some meatloaf around on her plate. "And she wants me to invite you all."

"That sounds like fun!" Sissi exclaimed. "I love tea!"

"I _hate_ society things," the brunette said in disgust.

"But you're going to _le Bal des Débutantes_ ," Aelita pointed out.

"Right, but that's more an excuse for me to wear a fancy dress and get drunk." She made a face. "A tea is just so… _stuffy_."

"Well, count me in," Jeremie said.

They all stared at him, Ulrich's silverware clattering to his tray. Odd practically spat out his drink.

"You… _want_ to go do something fun?" William asked, flabbergasted.

"I need to take better care of myself," he stated, downing the rest of his water. "And if that means going to a high tea instead of shutting myself up in my room or the lab, then so be it."

"When is it, anyway?" Aelita asked.

"She wants me to do it this Sunday," Giana replied. "She originally wanted it to be Saturday, but she forgot we still have a half-day of classes. Plus, I lied and told her Jim was taking us to the pool."

"I think he actually _is_ taking us to the pool," Odd said.

She smirked. "All the better."

* * *

"Jeremie," Sissi started, dodging lasers from a Kankrelat, "I know you wanted to figure out the whole origins of the supercomputer thing, and that you thought the superscan was bugged or whatever and wanted to fix it, but this is getting a little ridiculous!"

"She's right, Einstein!" Odd shouted. "These XANA attacks are too frequent. We're barely keeping up as it is!"

"Aelita's almost at the tower," Jeremie coaxed, leaning forward in the chair at the terminal. "Sissi, you're losing too many lifepoints!"

"It's a shame I can't use my healing powers on _myself_!" she said bitterly. "Can't you edit the code or something?"

"I don't know," he replied. "I'll look into it."

Odd was hit with another laser. "Damn it!"

"Alright, she's in the tower." Jeremie opened up the materialization window. "I'm going to bring you guys back in before the monsters destroy you."

* * *

"Any idea why these recent XANA attacks have been happening at night?" Sissi asked as they trudged back through the sewers.

"Yeah," Odd commented. "I miss being able to cut class. Now, I'm hardly getting any sleep!"

"You're not the only one," Aelita mumbled, eyeing Jeremie.

"I don't know," Jeremie replied quietly. "It's definitely weird, though." He turned to his girlfriend. "I found a signal deep in the net. It was really weak, but I think… I think it might be your father."

Aelita stopped short in her tracks, Sissi and Odd colliding with her. She stared at Jeremie in disbelief. "Come again?"

"I think Franz is alive."

"He can't be," she said dismissively, picking up speed as they finished their journey through the sewers. "He sacrificed himself – we all saw it."

"Aelita." He stopped her, grabbing her shoulders once they emerged from the manhole cover in the park. "I'm positive. The signal I got was the same as last time."

"We're supposed to be looking for my _mother_ ," she chided. "My father, though he was a good man at heart… he did some terrible things. He was unstable."

Sissi and Odd remained quiet, the four of them standing around the entrance to the sewers. It was almost one in the morning.

"We should have a meeting," Sissi suggested. "This is huge!"

"It's late," Aelita said coolly, breaking away from Jeremie's hold. She headed out of the woods. "We'll do it Sunday or something, after Giana's tea," they heard her say faintly, as she retreated back through the courtyard, seeking out the comfort of her dorm room.

"But that's two days from now!" Jeremie shouted. He turned to the others. "What was that about?"

"You just dropped a huge bomb on her, Einstein," Odd said quietly.

"Odd's right," Sissi added. "She needs time to process this, Jeremie."

* * *

Aelita practically flew to the dorms, taking the back stairwell to avoid Jim's patrols. As soon as she reached the confines of her room, she shut and locked herself in, kicking off her shoes and angrily stripping down to her underwear, searching for her pajamas. That long, pink nightshirt with the A on it was one of the only things not in the laundry.

 _My father_. She curled up on her side, hugging Mister Pück to her chest. The photo she kept on her night stand – one that she'd taken from the Hermitage, depicting her mother and father and a younger version of herself on Christmas Day – caught her eye as she blinked back tears.

She closed her eyes tight as a thousand memories came at her like a ton of bricks: Christmas Day when she was five, opening a box and pulling out Mister Pück from the tissue paper. Her mother being kidnapped by the Men in Black in the dead of night. She and her father, fleeing to France from Switzerland, from their cozy mountain chalet, and coming to reside at the Hermitage. Her father, disappearing a lot for hours on end, leaving her alone, frightened, with her dark thoughts and imagination. The day the Men in Black showed up at their home here in Boulogne-Billancourt, weapons drawn, ready to take them away as well.

That was when she'd discovered the factory, the supercomputer, Lyoko… everything her father had worked on for all those years.

That was the day, for the second time in her life, where everything fell to pieces.

She gritted her teeth. "Damn it!" She threw Mister Pück across the room, the doll hitting the closed door of her wardrobe with a _thwack_. He landed on the floor with a barely audible thud.

She tried to take a few calming breaths, her smart watch alerting her to an elevated heartrate. She choked out a sob and buried her face in her pillow.

She'd rather they find her mother than her father.

There was a soft knock at the door.

"Go away," she said weakly, muffled through the pillow.

"Aelita?" It was Jeremie. "Please."

"No."

He jiggled the door handle, muttering to himself when he realized it was locked. "Aelita," he tried again, "I – I'm sorry. I should have told you in private. I…"

She ran her hands over her face, wiping away the tears, peeling herself from her bed. She took a breath. "I don't want to talk about it." She shut off the light. "Let me sleep."

He sighed, defeated, resting his forehead against cool wood of the door. "Alright. Call me if you need anything."

She didn't respond as she stood in the middle of the dark room, waiting for the noise of his retreating footsteps to fade away.

She crashed back on to the bed, shaking, and buried herself in the warm blankets before crying herself to sleep.

* * *

"Miss De Luca?"

Giana looked up lazily from her tablet as Quentin stood in the doorway to the parlor. She didn't notice that he was clearly uncomfortable.

"May I present, Mr. Blaise Laurent."

A blonde boy sauntered into the room, hands clasped behind his back. He wore a grey suit and red tie, but most of all, there was a cocky grin about his face that she couldn't see.

"I don't believe this," she muttered in English, thankful for the apparent language barrier. She stood, extended her hand, and introduced herself in French.

He eyed her up and down. "You know," he started, sure of himself, "you and I could get along very well together."

She rolled her eyes. "Look," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "I already have a boyfriend, and I've already notified the _Bal_ committee I'd be attending with _him_. I'm not sure what my grandmother said to you–"

He moved closer, and she instinctively backed away, hitting the edge of the coffee table. He reached out, tilting her chin to look up at him.

He smelled strongly of cigarettes. She wanted to gag.

"I was told _we_ would be a perfect match for the _Bal_ ," he stated, expression hardening. "What's more, I find you very attractive." He moved his hand lower, grazing her breast. "Of course, in exchange for this favor, I would prefer it if you'd put out–"

She grabbed his arm, simultaneously kneeing him in the groin. She let go as he crumpled to the floor in agony.

"You bitch!" he shouted.

"You're repulsive," she snapped. "If you think for a _second_ –"

"Giana!"

She whirled around to find her grandmother, poised in the doorway, with a glare so cold that, although she couldn't see it, she felt it a thousand times over.

"What in the world is going on?"

"I was just leaving," Blaise answered, peeling himself from the floor and making a show of brushing himself off. "Thank you, Mrs. Vincent." He cast an icy glare back at the brunette, walking away without another word. They heard the front door slam a moment later.

"That is no way to conduct yourself when in the company of a potential suitor!" Pauline shouted. "Show some decency!"

"Mémé," she started, fuming, "that boy–"

"I don't want to hear it. That boy you're seeing from your school, however–"

"William's more of a gentleman than that _jackass_ –"

She scoffed. "It's a shame things ended the way they did with you and Xander."

Giana had no response to that. It was as if she'd been simultaneously punched in the gut and slapped across the face, the air sucked out of her and Pauline's words leaving a stinging sensation. She stared straight ahead, hands balled into fists at her sides, seething, willing away the hot tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.

Her grandparents had obviously known of Xander's death, but they weren't aware of the darker side of things. And she was prepared to keep it that way.

Her grandfather appeared, a glass of whiskey in his hand.

"Now, Pauline," he said calmly. "I'm sure there's a very good reason for… whatever she did. Janine and Sal have raised these kids to have good heads on their shoulders." He took a drink. "There's no reason to bring Xander into this."

Pauline straightened up, ignoring Jean-Luc. She focused on her granddaughter. "Your friends are due soon for tea. Make yourself presentable."

She opened her mouth in protest, to say something along the lines of _already_ being presentable, that the dress and flats she'd chosen to wear were _fine_. But she knew it was best to keep quiet.

Her grandparents left in a flurry, Quentin replacing them about a minute later.

"I think you did a marvelous job, Miss," he commended, cracking a small smile. "I could tell that… _gentleman_ … had no good intentions."

She groaned, flopping back on the high-backed sofa, the VoiceOver software on her watch alerting her to a text from Jeremie: They were almost there, but he warned her to be vigilant – a tower had just been activated.

Quentin hadn't left the doorway. "Miss? Are you quite alright?"

She covered her face with a floral toss pillow and screamed.


	19. Chapter XIX

**Chapter XIX**

* * *

Giana was in the process of clipping Vega's leash to her collar. She grabbed her bag and the dog's harness, turning to her grandparents' butler. He'd been watching her intently from the doorway leading to the parlor.

"Quentin, I have to go."

"Miss, I don't think–"

"There's an emergency," she said flatly, cutting him off. "We have to postpone the tea."

He disappeared, emerging a moment later with her coat. "Of course, Miss." He paused. "However, I think you should leave Vega here."

She arched an eyebrow.

"Not to undermine your authority, Miss – but, if you're going somewhere dangerous…"

"You're right." She unclipped the leash, hanging it and the harness on the end of the rail at the bottom of the stairs. She gave the dog a pat on the head, pulling her cane out of her bag and unfolding it. "We don't have much time."

"I'll get the car."

Just then, Ingrid appeared from the back of the house, humming and smiling brightly.

"Miss, I made your favorite," she said, extending a silver tray. "Cranberry biscotti with white chocolate drizzle." She passed one to the brunette. "Will these be satisfactory for your friends?"

Giana held the cookie in her mouth, buttoning her coat. She bit off a piece. "They're delicious!" She grabbed two more, rushing outside. "Thanks, Ingrid!"

"Miss!" The blonde stood in the doorway, clutching the tray as she watched Quentin pull around with the car. "Do your grandparents know you're leaving?"

They sped off, leaving her rooted to her spot.

She stared after them. Vega padded over, nudging her with her snout. "Oh!"

* * *

"It would've been better if you'd stayed there!" Jeremie chastised through the phone. "We could have–"

"Jeremie," Giana started, narrowing her eyes. "Cool it. I'm already on my way back to Kadic."

"You're _alone_! What if something happens?"

She heard a commotion in the background on his end – it sounded as if he and William were arguing over something. She let out a breath, impatient. "Jeremie?"

"Alright." It was William. "Ignore him; he's paranoid."

"What else is new?"

"Where are you?"

"Uh–" She fumbled, asking Quentin. "We just passed the _Universitié Paris-Dauphine_."

He gritted his teeth. "Damn it. We're about ten minutes behind you."

"How? All you had to do was tell your Uber driver to turn back around!"

"Odd wanted to stop at a freaking Burger King to grab a second lunch!"

"Ugh!" She balled her free hand into a fist, addressing him in English. "Okay. I'm going to head straight to the factory. I'll meet you there."

"Deal."

She hung up, leaning back in the car's plush leather interior.

"Is everything alright, Miss?" Quentin asked, his eyes flickering to catch her in the rear-view mirror.

"It's fine," she lied. "Just peachy."

* * *

Giana hid in the lab, looking up when the elevator doors opened to reveal Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd – who was, indeed, finishing off a to-go meal from Burger King. He offered her some fries.

"Where's everyone else?" she asked, standing. She took a small handful of food.

"They're at school," Jeremie answered, loosening his tie. They had been dressed nicely for the tea. "XANA hasn't made his attack known yet." He sat down at the console. "You're going to the ice sector."

Once they landed, he materialized their vehicles.

"The tower is due south. Watch out for monsters!"

"We're pros at this, Einstein," Odd bragged, doing a loop on the Overboard. "Just sit back, and relax."

A laser shot at him, devirtualizing his vehicle. He fell to the icy ground, the momentum causing him to somersault and slide at least fifty meters ahead.

"Pros, huh?" Jeremie teased, a cocky grin spreading across his face.

"Laser arrow!" Odd shot at the Creeper. "Hey, it's not my fault! Creepers only appear in Sector Five – what the hell are they doing here?"

"This is really weird," Aelita said, piloting the Overwing straight at the tower. "I wonder–"

A second Creeper shot at their vehicle, the girls thrown through the air just like Odd.

Giana pointed straight ahead at a white sphere, so bright that it could've been mistaken for the sun. But it was always dark in the ice sector. "What's that?"

Aelita stood slowly, scrutinizing the object. "No… It can't be!" She took a step forward. "Jeremie?"

"It's Franz." He typed a few commands into the console. "Damn it! I can't do anything from my end – it's like he restricted my access!"

"Why would he do that?" Odd asked, shooting another arrow, killing off a Creeper.

"I-I think he's trying to contact me," Jeremie answered, watching as line after line of code appeared in a window on the screen, blocking his view of the team's progress on Lyoko. "This is crazy!"

The girls were finally close enough to the tower for Aelita to rush in. The lone Creeper shot at Giana, knocking her back further so she almost slid through the tower's entrance after her.

"Be careful!" Jeremie chastised. "You've been hit twice – you only have twenty lifepoints left!"

"I hate these things!" she shouted, picking herself up and brandishing her weapon. She charged at the monster, poised to attack, but was shot at a third time. She flew back through the air, disappearing in a silhouette of pixels.

"Alright, Einstein," Odd said. "It's my turn to–"

Before he could finish, he was also devirtualized. The Creeper caught him square in the chest.

* * *

The duo staggered out of their respective scanners, lightheaded from the materialization.

"How's she doing, Jeremie?" Giana asked, climbing up the ladder and into the lab. She sank to the floor against the wall next to Odd and smoothed out a wrinkle in her dress.

"She's deactivated the tower, but I–" He turned around. "I lost her signal."

Odd spat out the Coke he'd been sipping. "You _what_?"

"I'm sure it's nothing," Jeremie said quickly. "It may have something to do with Franz. You should see this!" He gestured to the window of code on the monitor, its content still increasing at a steady pace. "This is going to take William and I weeks to decipher!"

"Okay, but what about Aelita?" Giana questioned, folding her arms. "Without her, we can't deactivate the towers. XANA wins."

"I know!" Jeremie shouted, frustrated. He stood from the terminal. "I don't even have any idea where to begin." He started pacing. "By all accounts, she should have materialized in the scanners _here_. But, before I could enter the sequence, she just… _disappeared_! She's _gone_!"

"That can't be," Odd insisted. "There are three scanners downstairs, and we have the one supercomputer that can communicate with them! It's not like she could've materialized on to a _Replika_ , right?"

"Of course not." He waved his hand at the thought, adjusting his glasses. "But I don't understand – she was _right in the tower_!" He punched the chair's headrest. "I'm going to call everyone else and tell them to meet us back at the dorms. This is a real emergency." He looked to the brunette. "Sorry, Giana, but it doesn't look like we'll be going to your tea."

"That's okay." She relaxed. "To be honest, I'd rather stay here anyway. I can only take so much of my grandmother before I want to make myself disappear."

* * *

"You _lost_ Aelita?!" Yumi shouted, punching the Albert Einstein poster on the wall. They were crowded around Jeremie's room, the door shut and locked.

"I didn't lose her!" the blonde said defensively. "She just… disappeared."

"Do you have any idea where she could be?" William asked. He stared down at his tablet, the code they received from Franz Hopper visible on-screen. "Yikes."

"None, whatsoever," he replied, holding his head in his hands. "Maybe Franz took her somewhere? But, like Odd said, we're the ones with the scanners!"

"Not necessarily." William looked Jeremie in the eye. "Did you get to read through this? It's written in the same language as the supercomputer – her father is _definitely_ involved, somehow."

The blonde took the tablet, skimming through a portion of the code. "What does it say?"

"She's still alive." He took the tablet back, scrolling through and keeping his focus on the screen. He arched an eyebrow. "This is weird."

"What?"

"I think she's in Switzerland."

"How the hell is she in _Switzerland_?" Ulrich practically shouted. "The supercomputer's unique, isn't it? There's no way they could've built another one!"

"Well, she disappeared from the tower, like Jeremie said. And these are rough exit coordinates–"

"Think about it," Sissi chimed in, cutting him off. "Aelita's father supposedly dies, saving the world from XANA and his robot army. Her mother was taken away from her when she was, what, five years old? And now her father is supposedly back, and he _kidnaps_ her?"

"Sissi could be on to something," Odd said, nodding. "What if Franz was alive the whole time and built another supercomputer? I mean, he's from Switzerland originally, right? Maybe he found Anthea and they've been in hiding or something."

"Odd, we saw him _die_ ," Yumi pointed out, crossing her arms. "I mean, sure – it happened on Lyoko, but that doesn't mean–"

"We haven't told you yet," Jeremie interrupted, keeping his voice quiet. "It _is_ Franz. I got a really weak signal from him the other night – like a literal blip on the radar. I told Aelita, but she ran off to her room and didn't want to call a meeting about it until today, after the tea." He fidgeted with his glasses. "I just… I don't understand why he would kidnap his own daughter."

"There must be a good reason," Ulrich said. "I mean, we know she's alive. That's a good start."

"If only we could tap into their mainframe," Jeremie wondered aloud. "Someone could enter Lyoko and go into a neutral tower, and either myself or William would set it so they materialized in Switzerland." He looked to William. "You think it's possible?"

He pondered the thought, taking Jeremie's seat and typing a few commands into his computer. He turned around, addressing the group. "Yes. But it'll take some time."

"Hey, wait," Sissi said, bringing them back down to earth. "What are we going to tell my father and the teachers? They're going to notice immediately that she's not here."

Jeremie was glad to finally have an answer: "We'll replace her with a clone. It'll be just like when William was possessed."

"Yeah, except I had to do a ton of damage control when I came back," the older boy countered.

"Then we'll have people take turns babysitting it when we go to Lyoko!"

"Okay, but what happens if there's an attack?" Ulrich questioned. "None of us have the ability to deactivate a tower!"

"I might be able to do something on my end," Jeremie suggested, reclaiming his desk chair. "Remember when XANA sent that clone of Franz here, and we found him deactivating towers remotely with a few simple keystrokes? If I can just recreate that sequence…"

"I mean, you've activated towers in the past," Odd recalled. "What's so hard?"

"It's an entirely different process," William answered matter-of-factly. "Sure, it's as simple as Aelita placing her hand on the tower interface and entering the LYOKO code, but on the backend of things, it's really tricky."

"You used to enter the XANA code into the towers, remember?" Ulrich pointed out. "Wouldn't it work the same if you just entered the LYOKO code?"

William's expression darkened. "That was when I was possessed."

"You can at least try it," Yumi suggested. "The worst-case scenario is that it doesn't work. Maybe Jeremie could activate a tower and you can _de_ activate it, sort of as a dry run."

William looked around at them. The facts were plain and simple: They were up the creek without a paddle. The best case was that Aelita was probably in Switzerland, safe and sound but with her unstable scientist of a father. But they were still screwed without her, not to mention the piles of trouble they'd get into with the school if someone found out the truth.

They really needed him, though, and not just for the standard Lyoko trips – that was a lot more than he could say for the beginning, when they kept him in the dark and on a need-to-know basis. It was progress.

He straightened up. "Alright. We can try."

There was a knock. Everyone snapped to attention.

"It's probably Giana," Sissi said casually, going over to let their friend in.

The brunette entered the room, carrying a large paper bag with two hands. "Okay," she said, placing it on an empty spot on Jeremie's desk. She unclipped Vega's leash, telling the Labrador to settle. "Ingrid conspired against my grandmother and gave us the food she'd prepared for the tea. Quentin was just dropping everything off with the dog."

She produced multiple containers and plates, popping off a lid to reveal the biscotti she loved so much. Taking one out, she bit into it.

Odd beamed, clutching two biscotti in his hands and reaching for a few macarons. He lifted the foil on a plate to reveal a cluster of little cakes. " _Petit gâteau_! Oh man, this is awesome!" He took one covered in chocolate glaze with an almond ganache on top.

"You missed the majority of our meeting," Jeremie chastised. He picked up an orange walnut scone, examining it while biting into a finger sandwich.

"I know, I'm sorry," she said between bites. "This took longer than I'd anticipated." Her gaze roamed around the room. "What's the plan?"

"I'm going to deactivate a tower," William announced. He bit into a biscotti. "Tell Ingrid I want these in bulk."

* * *

Aelita stepped out of a scanner, but it was immediately evident she wasn't at the factory: The room she was in had harsh, white lighting, and computer monitors lined the walls as far as she could see.

"Excuse me?" she called. "Hello?"

A man and woman approached her, both wearing lab coats. She immediately recognized the man as her father, and as if she wasn't nauseas enough from the materialization, it registered in her brain that his companion shared her uniquely pink hair.

Everything became blurry, the room spinning. "Mom?"

Anthea smiled warmly. "Aelita, my darling."

That was the last thing she remembered before she fainted.


	20. Chapter XX

**Chapter XX**

* * *

"I'm telling the truth, Giana. I didn't kiss Heidi!" William tried to enter her room, but she blocked him.

She put her hands on her hips. "You think Sissi would _lie_ to me?"

"You believe _Sissi_ of all people?"

"Yumi was with her – she backed up her claim that she saw you kissing Heidi under the arches earlier!"

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "I _swear_ , I–"

"Hey, William!"

He turned to the side, spotting Heidi stalking down the girls' corridor. Giana poked her head out of her room to get a better view.

"What the hell was that, kissing me in front of Julien earlier?" the blonde practically shouted. The remaining girls on their floor opened their doors, looking out at the commotion.

"I knew it!" Giana exclaimed. "I– _You_ –" Her hands balled into fists at her sides as she spouted off in English, calling him a liar and a cheat, among other things.

William stole a fleeting glance at Heidi as he argued with his girlfriend. The blonde stood by silently, arms crossed, taking in the scene. An icy glare crept across her features. Giana was still shouting in English. He knew the evidence was stacked against him, but he really _didn't_ kiss Heidi.

"You need to figure out what the hell your deal is," she finally said in French, so as to include the blonde in their conversation. She shut the door to her room and locked it.

"I didn't do anything!" he shouted in vain. He rested his forehead against the door, bringing his fist up to hit it in a single knock. "Giana–"

"Go away," she said forcefully, muffled by the obstacle between them. She slid to the floor, her knees hugging her chest and her back against the door. Tears sprung from her eyes in a mixture of anger and sadness. Vega padded over to her, licking her face.

William let out a strangled noise, turning again to find Heidi still glaring at him.

"Look," he said. "I'm sorry for… whatever I did to you. I just… I need to go."

He brushed past her, running for the stairwell. She shouted in protest for him to come back, but noticed the other girls still standing in their doorways, their stares catching her with unease. She stalked off to her room, slamming the door.

* * *

" _Please_ ," William said, bursting into Jeremie's room, "tell me there's an activated tower."

"Actually, yes," the blonde replied, looking up from his phone. "I was just sending off a text. How'd you know?"

"There's a polymorphic clone or something out there," he answered, his expression hardening. "It kissed Heidi, and now Giana's not talking to me."

Jeremie sprang from his chair. "I _knew_ there was something going on with you two! I win the bet!"

William gritted his teeth. " _Jeremie_!"

The boy grabbed his backpack. "She's supposed to go to Lyoko with you and Ulrich."

"I know." He huffed an agitated sigh. "Let's get a move on. They can catch up."

They left Jeremie's room, the blonde locking his door. They ran down the hall, ignoring Jim's shouting, asking what the hurry was.

"I can't believe this," William said once they were in the stairwell.

"It happened once before," the blonde commented. "A clone being sent here to kiss everyone, I mean. It really messed with the dynamics of our group."

William shook his head. "When this one's over, we need to all sit down and go over every attack so far – I feel like Sissi, Giana and I have the right to know, considering how involved we are."

Jeremie pondered the thought. "Alright." They sprinted across the courtyard, heading to the boiler room in the gym. "But that's going to take a very, very long time."

* * *

"Giana!" Ulrich called, banging on his friend's door. "Come on, we have to go!"

"Send Yumi or Sissi," she replied bitterly, muffled through the other side of the wall. "I'm not fighting next to William."

"This could be the attack!" the boy pointed out, jiggling the door handle. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Did you ever consider that?"

He heard the click of the lock, the door opening to reveal the girl. Vega stood next to her, stretching and wagging her tail.

"No," she admitted, grabbing her cane and unfolding it. "But that's stupid."

"It happened once, it'll happen again," he said coolly. "We have to hurry. William and Jeremie are almost at the factory."

"And the others?" she asked, locking her door.

"They're on high alert." They headed down the hall and into the stairwell. "Listen: I'm the king when it comes to sulking. I know you're upset, but we have a job to do. Aelita's missing, and Jeremie and William are almost done creating her clone. We really need to stick together."

* * *

"Okay, now it's time for the real test," Jeremie announced, sliding into the chair at the console. "You were able to deactivate the tower I took over in our dry run… Let's hope it works on XANA this time."

William stepped into the scanner, its doors closing immediately. "Where are the others?"

"They're just entering the factory. Once I materialize you, find a place to hide until they show up."

He landed in the mountain sector, seeking shelter in a cave as he waited for Ulrich and Giana. But he wasn't alone for long – the duo appeared about three minutes later.

Jeremie materialized the Overbike. "The tower's due northeast of your location."

Ulrich looked to the girl and gestured to his vehicle. "You take it," he offered. "William and I can use our powers to keep up."

She beamed, hopping on to the Overbike and squeezing one of the handholds to rev the engine. "Last one to the tower loses!"

She soared toward their destination, careening around a tight bend in the landscape as the boys kept up on either side of her. The light from Ulrich's Super Speed on her right was almost blinding compared to William's black Super Smoke, blending into the ground on her left. She leaned forward on the Overbike, coaxing it to go faster, as she just _barely_ made it to the clearing in front of the tower before she flew off the vehicle. It had been devirtualized, the momentum causing her to tumble a great distance before coming to a stop.

A Blok appeared, shooting another laser at the trio. It hit Ulrich square in the back, knocking him forward and to the ground in a similar manner to Giana.

"Damn it!" He stood up and drew his blades, charging at the monster. "You're gonna pay for that!"

He jumped, landing on top of the Blok, and plunged one of his katanas into its hitpoint. He abandoned their enemy as it exploded.

"I was winning, anyway," Giana said idly, brandishing her weapon.

"Uh-huh," William mumbled in disbelief.

"She's right," Jeremie cut in. "I saw it on my screen. She was mere centimeters ahead of you two."

"This is almost too easy," Ulrich said skeptically, surveying the area. "Jeremie? There aren't any invisible monsters on your end, are there?"

"No," the blonde replied. "However, there are a few Tarantulas headed your way."

"Oh, great," Giana said dryly. "My favorite."

William slashed through one of the monsters with his Zweihänder, the others taking on the remaining two. Giana was shot in the stomach twice, wiping out her remaining lifepoints. The force of the lasers caused her to lean back as she was devirtualized.

"William," Ulrich said. "Run to the tower. _Now_. I can take these rotten spiders."

The boy nodded, making a dash for the sanctity of the tower with the red halo. Once he phased through the entrance, he immediately felt different. Energized.

"So this is what it feels like for your lifepoints to regenerate," he commented. Stepping to the center of the platform, he rose up to the second level, guided by an invisible force at an incredible speed.

"Isn't it the same as when Sissi heals you?" Jeremie questioned.

"No. Sissi's healing comes in quick bursts. The regeneration of entering a tower is slower, and more relaxing at that."

He made his way to the center of the upper platform, the all-too-familiar floating interface appearing before him.

"Alright, Jeremie. Here goes."

William placed his hand in the middle of the interface, watching his name automatically typed out on the screen. He waited for the interface to grant him code access, but once the cursor flashed, he was able to successfully go in and enter the LYOKO algorithm to deactivate the tower.

He took half a step back, scrutinizing the interface. Time stood still for the briefest moment before the screen dissolved and fell, blending in with the thousands of other interfaces lining the cylindrical interior walls of the tower.

"I did it," he said in amazement. "I deactivated a tower."

"It worked!" Jeremie exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. "It actually _worked_!"

* * *

"I can't believe I have to babysit the clone," Giana grumbled. "It creeps me out."

It was after dinner the following night. She was in her room, feeding Vega, having just let her out. Sissi leaned against the closed door, watching them.

"You missed the meeting!" she continued, mocking Jeremie. "That means you have to take first watch!" She snapped the container of dog food shut. "Now I have to sit in the library with it while you get to have all the fun."

"You and I have very different definitions of the word _fun_ ," Sissi said, sitting on the edge of the girl's bed. "Besides, it won't be that bad. Just pretend it's really her."

The brunette stood, facing her friend. "You and I both know it was a trip and a half wrangling it last night. Thank God you were able to get a copy of her room key from Jim."

"What's going on with you and William?" Sissi asked, changing the topic. She was studying the polaroid photos pinned to a line on the wall above her bed: A lot of them were of her friends from back in Boston, dressed up for fancy events or cast pictures from theater productions. Her dog was in a few of them. She also noticed a couple with her brother and parents.

"I messed up yesterday." She sank down next to her. "I was mad because I thought he kissed Heidi, but – surprise – it was that stupid polymorphic specter. I haven't gotten a chance to really talk to him, since we had to deal with Aelita's clone and we've had exams all day today. Once I get a moment with him in private, I'm going to apologize." She cracked a smile. "Also, it's pretty funny – Jeremie thinking he won the bet and all, when you and Aelita knew _way_ before him."

"I mean, if you want my opinion, I don't really think you were in the wrong. I would've reacted the same exact way." She paused. "Plus, we never did a return trip. So Heidi's still mad about her relationship with Julien being on the rocks." She smirked. "About the bet… I think it was a good idea to let him have it."

"You _each_ had to pay him twenty euro!" She stood, pacing. "In regards to William, I just don't feel right _not_ saying I'm sorry. Even if the evidence was stacked against him."

There was a knock at the door. Sissi got up to open it.

"Hey, we gotta go." It was Odd. "Jeremie figured out XANA's attack this time: A US Army jet was taken control of with plans to crash it. He hasn't pinpointed the coordinates yet." He turned to Giana. "The clone's in Aelita's room."

* * *

The duo sat in the library, occupying a table in the back corner of the room. It was pretty desolate, save for Milly and Tamiya, and some older kids, all spread out with various assignments to do.

Giana was just finishing up her Italian homework. Aelita's clone sat across from her, doodling in a notebook. Once finished, the clone proudly presented its work, flashing a big smile. The brunette looked up, and although she could barely see it, she smiled and said it was lovely all the same.

Then Jim came barreling over.

"Stones! De Luca!" He didn't bother lowering his voice. No one dared to shush him. "Where are the other members of your little group?"

"They're at the factory," the clone said casually, without missing a beat.

 _I'm going to kill Jeremie._ Giana held her head in her hands.

Jim arched an eyebrow. "Factory? What factory?"

"It's a venue in Paris," the brunette lied. "They're doing an advanced screening of the new _Star Wars_ movie."

"Oh." Jim's expression softened. "Well, when you see them, tell Sissi that her father's been looking for her. And, I've been doing surprise dorm inspections – let Stern and Della Robbia know that their room is a total mess and that I expect to see it clean by tomorrow!"

Giana nodded. Aelita's clone twiddled its thumbs.

Jim noticed Vega, snoozing comfortably on the floor next to her owner. He reached down to give the black lab a pat on the head.

"Please don't pet her," Giana said. "She's working."

"Oh. Right." He backed off, his face turning red with embarrassment. "Sorry."

Once he was gone, Giana let out a sigh of relief. But, when she looked up at Aelita's clone, she realized it wasn't there – in fact, it was about ten feet away, taking books off the shelves and throwing them haphazardly to the floor. She threw one book with such trajectory that it hit the back of Emily's head. The older girl wasn't the least pleased.

Giana slouched down in her chair, willing herself to disappear. _This_ can't _be happening._

* * *

"Jeremie, open up!" Giana said, pounding on the boy's door. "I know you're in there!"

He flung it open, coming face-to-face with the brunette and Aelita's clone.

"Here," she said, giving the clone a gentle nudge into the room. "I think you need to tweak the behavior a bit. It's really very ditzy, and we don't want her coming back to deal with too much damage control – not to _mention_ " – she lowered her voice – "that she's supposed to be _your girlfriend_ , and masquerading as Odd's _cousin_!"

"Alright." Jeremie held his hands up in surrender. "William and I will work on it right now."

She poked her head into the room, making out the other boy's form hunched over his laptop. "Actually, I need to borrow him for a bit." She paused, turning back to the blonde. "Oh, and if Jim asks, you all went to go see an advanced screening of _The Last Jedi_."

* * *

Aelita sat cross-legged in a tastefully decorated bedroom, in a lavish apartment, situated above the bustling nighttime streets of Zürich. She lazily flipped through channels on the TV, trying to find something in French – she wished Ulrich was there to translate the German for her.

"French is one of the official languages of this country," she said bitterly. "You'd think there would be more media available."

She heard a noise – the front door opened, her father dropping his keys on the table in the foyer. Her parents spoke softly to each other. She shut the television off, straining to hear them.

"This was a mistake," Anthea said, shedding her coat and hanging it in the front closet. "Waldo, we _kidnapped_ our own daughter!"

"If I didn't know better," Franz started idly, "Jeremie will have already created a clone to replace her. Remember: We don't exist in her life at Kadic."

Anthea shook her head. "I just hope you can convince them that you have a way to stop XANA, once and for all. It caused Aelita to lose _ten years_ of her life!"

He placed an arm around his wife, drawing her to him. "I know. I wanted to protect her, from the Men in Black. Those same men who had captured you."

"But they set me free, remember? I lied and told them I didn't know anything," she said, muffled.

Aelita inched closer to the door to her room, left ajar. She stayed out of the sliver of light coming from the hall. Even though her parents had moved to the living room, she could still hear them perfectly.

"Why did we have to kidnap her, though?" Anthea asked again. "You could have easily transferred yourself to France by way of the scanners." She paused. "Or, you could have established proper contact before pulling her to us."

"The signal was weak," he said firmly. "I was using all our resources just to latch on and send Jeremie the code they would need to set up communication. You'll see – one of them will show up in our lab, and soon. We'll all work together, using the resources of both supercomputers, and finally put an end to XANA."

"I still think you should have gone about this differently."

"I can't just _go back_ to France, Anthea!" he shouted, standing. "The teachers at Kadic know something went wrong and that I disappeared _years_ ago! Aelita had never been enrolled as a student there, as I'd had her homeschooled in the event that something like this would happen! Now we have our family back, and we can start a new life once this is finally finished!"

"Waldo, listen to yourself!" Anthea shot back, jumping to her feet. "You kidnapped our daughter and want to lure her friends here, all to stop XANA? They're _children_! They need love and structure, not to fight as soldiers in a war!"

 _Too late,_ Aelita thought. She thought she was going to be sick. Her watch alerted her to an elevated heartrate. _We've been fighting this war for years._

Of course, her phone was still at Kadic. There were no landline phones in the apartment, and they didn't keep any computers within her reach. It wasn't like she easily could contact her friends – she had to rely on her parents. The people who had uprooted her from the false life she was leading in France.

She felt more like a prisoner here than at school. At least there, she _was_ someone: Aelita Stones. Odd's cousin, Jeremie's girlfriend. She had another DJ gig coming up. She got fantastic grades in all her classes, in close competition with Jeremie for the highest average.

Here, she was Aelita Schaeffer. Waldo and Anthea's daughter. But the only people in Switzerland who knew she existed were her parents and their coworkers, the original crew who had helped create Project Carthage.

"Anthea," Franz started evenly, "do you know _why_ XANA even returned in the first place?"

She shook her head, her pink hair flying into her face. Aelita strained even harder to hear his answer.

"The Men in Black – they tapped into the intelligence systems and found XANA's signal. Though weak at the time, it's evolved, as Jeremie's done too many return trips over the years, not to mention he rebooted the damn supercomputer. It's out there, in the net, untethered. Now that the government has it in their hands…" He deflated, shaking his head slowly. "There's no telling what will happen. Even though it's an artificial intelligence, XANA can be manipulated by anyone who knows the right sequence of code. And the powers of the world are in a race to figure out how to crack it, to have the ultimate weapon on their side. Technological warfare.

"That's why I started Project Carthage and built Lyoko all those years ago – to use the former as a weapon _against_ the military and the government, and the latter as a shelter, should it come to this. And it has." He slumped into one of the wing-backed armchairs as Anthea turned on the electric fireplace. "If we don't win this, there's no stopping them from killing us."

Aelita flew to her en-suite bathroom, shutting and locking the door. She vomited.


	21. Chapter XXI

**Chapter XXI**

* * *

"Is this him? The ex-boyfriend XANA sent here as a specter?"

Giana and Ulrich sat in the girl's room. Aelita's clone was perched at the desk, reading a book. He held up a polaroid of the brunette with Xander, dressed for a dance at their old school. They were with Tori, James, Jack, and the rest of their friends and their dates. They all looked happy.

She took the photo, examining it at a closer angle. "It was… a messy relationship."

But he read between the lines, gently taking it back and replacing it on its clothespin. "My father's abusive. That's why I hate going home."

The clone perked up from its book.

Giana blinked. "How did you…"

"You had this look, like a dozen traumas passed before your eyes." He shrugged. "I know that's how I must look every time I get a call from my dad. Plus, you mentioned something about it at the end of Toussaint."

"It was a lot of little things," she said quietly. "But it culminated in a really bad incident. There was a party last year at a mutual friend's, after a boating competition. I'd hardly seen Xander all night until it was nearing the end. He was drunk." She leaned back against the wall, stretching her legs out. "Basically, one thing led to another, and I ended up pushed down some stairs, landing so I broke my wrist and with glass embedded in my arm from a broken bottle. I think I passed out at some point. I woke up in the ER with two other friends, along with my brother. He was pissed, thinking I was careless and fell. At least, that's what I told him."

"Do you still have any contact with Xander?"

"He, uh… He committed suicide."

"Oh. I'm sorry." He stared down at his hands. "But I'm glad you ended things before it got too bad." He paused. "My father… He's just so damn violent. He's never done it in front of me, but I'm almost positive he hits my mom, too. I just wish I could be there to protect her. Yumi and Odd are the only other people who know."

"William knows. About Xander, I mean. And Odd and Aelita, to an extent." She let out a breath. "I won't tell anyone about your father."

They remained silent. Vega paced back and forth behind the desk chair, anxious from being around the clone. She had kept her composure whenever the harness was on and she was working, but once it came off, the dog was very wary of the impostor. She let out a disgruntled _woof_.

"Quiet," Giana said, addressing the dog in English. The Labrador sighed, retreating to her bed under the window. She curled up into a ball.

"She's a good dog," Ulrich commented, admiring the animal. "I can't blame her for not liking the clone."

"The clone gives me the creeps," the girl admitted. "I'm assuming it was the same when Jeremie replaced William."

"You have no idea." He chuckled. "That thing was as dumb as a sack of bricks."

She smirked.

"I knew you weren't lying, by the way – when you rejected Nicholas. Hervé can shove his foot–"

The door flew open. It was William. The duo stood while the clone remained rooted to the chair.

"You have to come to the factory," he announced. "I think Jeremie and I found a solution to our problem."

* * *

They were crowded around Jeremie, who sat at the console in the lab. Well, all except the clone – it sat against the wall, staring off into space.

"You think you found her?" Ulrich asked excitedly. "That was quick – it only took a few days!"

"Yeah, a few days of sleepless nights and tons of caffeine," William muttered.

"We were able to pinpoint the coordinates of her exit," Jeremie explained. He typed a few commands into the terminal. "It's a lab situated underground somewhere in Zürich."

"So she really _is_ in Switzerland," Odd said. "How do we get to her?"

"I have a theory." Jeremie turned to face the group. "If someone can get to a neutral tower on Lyoko, I can try entering the materialization sequence with the provided coordinates. That way, you'd appear in a scanner in Zürich, instead of one of ours downstairs."

They stared at him. Sissi cleared her throat.

"Don't all jump at once."

"Jeremie, that's a lot to ask," Yumi said uneasily. "I mean, you're talking about sending one of us to _another country_ by way of the scanners! It's never been done before!"

"Franz did it," he asserted.

"Right, but you haven't," she pointed out, crossing her arms. "I'm sorry, but I think it's just too risky."

"Why else would he have provided us with this information?" William countered. "They're obviously expecting one of us to show up there – I say we do it."

"We'll draw straws," Sissi suggested. "That way, it's fair."

"William can't go," Giana reminded them. "He's needed here in case there's an attack."

"And Jeremie has to stay to run the supercomputer," Ulrich chimed in. "I mean, we can all run virtualizations, but when it comes to vehicles and any hiccups that might arise? We need you here, too, Einstein."

"Alright." Jeremie stood. "Before we draw straws, does anyone actually want to volunteer?"

Everyone avoided eye contact, both with each other and the blonde. He crossed his arms impatiently as the clock ticked by.

"Straws it is, then."

* * *

"You _sure_ you know what you're doing?" Odd asked for probably the fifteenth time. His scanner door closed, cutting off his view. Sissi and Yumi's doors also closed, encasing them all in the cabins.

"Yes," Jeremie asserted. "Yumi and Sissi will accompany you to the tower, because there will undoubtedly be monsters. Once you're at the upper platform, I'll launch the materialization process. The next thing you know, you'll be in Switzerland."

Odd bit his tongue. He didn't want to admit just how afraid he was as they landed in the forest sector, their vehicles materializing in front of them. He hopped on the Overboard and kicked it into high gear toward the tower.

"Trust me," Jeremie continued. "I know what I'm doing. And, I have Franz's code to help us out."

"Jeremie, he isn't exactly the most stable person to rely on," Yumi pointed out dryly. "I still say this is a huge, unnecessary risk."

"We have to get Aelita back!" he shouted. "For all we know, they could be keeping her hostage!"

"She's their _daughter_ ," Sissi said, she and Yumi jumping from the Overwing once they reached the neutral tower. "I highly doubt–"

She was cut off by a laser to the shoulder, as two Krabs approached them.

"Have you found out if I can use my healing powers on myself yet?" she asked, changing topic. She charged at the Krab and jumped, launching her staff into its hitpoint. It exploded.

"Not yet, but as soon as this materialization is finished, I'll definitely look into it."

"You'd better!" She cast a glance behind her. "Odd! Get into the tower!"

He nodded, phasing through the entrance. Slowly, he made his way to the center of the platform, waiting with bated breath as that force pushed him to the upper level. He took baby steps, making it once again to the center.

"Okay, Jeremie," he said, trying to mask his fear. "Let's do this."

"Right." The boy typed a few commands into the console. "Code: EARTH."

* * *

A scanner opened in the underground lab in Zürich. Aelita was the only one in the room; she'd been pacing in front of the cylinder, trying to figure out a way back to France. She wanted her old life, regardless of how good it was to be reunited with her mother.

She hadn't been able to contact Jeremie and the others for days. They had no idea just how big the whole situation was – that they could all be dead before they even stopped the AI that ruled their life for three years and counting.

She gawked as Odd spilled from the scanner, pale and breathless. She barely caught him as he fell, trying to keep his head from hitting the polished tile floor.

"Odd?" she said in astonishment. "What–"

"Hey, Princess," he greeted weakly, cracking a smile. "Jeremie sent me."

She let go of him, the duo sliding to the floor in sitting positions. Her parents and their colleagues had gone to dinner; she'd opted to stay back, with plans to order takeout later. She didn't want their company.

" _Jeremie_?" Her mouth was agape. "He was able to decipher the code from my father?"

Odd nodded. "Yeah. He sent me here as a guinea pig." He looked around at the deserted lab; every computer monitor had been locked and displayed password prompts. "Can you get us back to the factory?"

"I've been trying to hack into their mainframe for the last two hours," she admitted. "So far, no luck." She stole another glance at the monitors. "Although…"

She sprang to her feet, running to the nearest machine. In the password field, she typed SCIPIO, hitting the enter key. With bated breath, she watched as the prompt disappeared to show lines of code.

"My father's paranoid, but he's also an idiot," she said bitterly. "Since the supercomputer here is also connected to Lyoko, it shouldn't be too hard…" She typed a string of commands into a terminal prompt, smiling when a familiar window appeared. She turned to her friend. "Do you want to do the honors? I can set a self-virtualization timer once you're gone."

"I thought there was a twelve-hour cooldown period," he pointed out, getting to his feet. "I mean, I'd gladly–"

They blanched as they heard a noise from upstairs.

"They're coming," she said, hastily typing into the terminal. "Go! The cooldown shouldn't apply here since we're not at the factory. This is a different setup."

The boy scrambled back into the scanner, watching as its doors closed. He felt the familiar whoosh of air and white light as he left the earth, landing back in the forest sector mere seconds later.

It was a few long, dreadful minutes before Aelita appeared beside him, landing expertly. She turned to him, letting out a breath.

"Okay, now we need to–"

"Aelita!"

"Jeremie!" She would have cried if she were back on earth. She readied an Energy Field. "Odd made it. We're coming back now."

He fired an arrow at her just as she hit him with her weapon. They devirtualized simultaneously in two silhouettes of blue and white pixels.

* * *

The duo practically fell out of their respective scanners in the factory. The group was there to greet them, of course – Jeremie was right there to catch Aelita, and Ulrich and Yumi had managed to right Odd without him collapsing.

"International materialization is rough," he muttered, wiping his brow.

Aelita gave a half-hearted groan as she stood with Jeremie's assistance. The rest of the group hung back by the elevator, quiet, as they watched the scene unfold.

"You're back," Jeremie said softly. He had already dematerialized the clone. "Aelita, I… I'm so sorry, about springing your father on you, and allowing you to get sucked into whatever he's posing as the ringmaster of in Switzerland. I just… I thought I could help."

"Jeremie." She rubbed her eyes. "It's not your fault. This whole thing, with my father? It's a lot bigger than you could ever imagine."

* * *

They'd all made their way back to school, seeking refuge in Aelita's room. Kiwi and Vega were curled up at the foot of the girl's bed as she sat cross-legged, a throw blanket draped over her. Everyone had remained silent as she recounted what she'd heard from her parents in Zürich, when they thought she hadn't been listening.

"So, they really think you don't know?" Ulrich asked.

She nodded.

"What do you think will happen now? They're going to find out you're gone." Sissi stretched her legs out from her position on the floor. "Do you think they know you're here?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Aelita replied. "But, my father said it himself: He can't just come back. Your father and the rest of the teachers who worked here in the nineties, they know he disappeared. It would be problematic if he just showed up all of a sudden, no questions asked."

"I mean, no offense, Aelita," Odd started, "but it didn't look like the authorities put much stock into your disappearance all those years ago. What makes you think they'd have kept a case file on your dad?"

"I've been looking into that, actually," William chimed in. He balanced his tablet on his leg, flicking through it with his right hand. His other arm was draped around Giana, the girl leaning on him, half-asleep. "According to the police records from 1994, there was definitely interest in the disappearance of you and your father. But it never went much beyond a local radius, in terms of it being broadcast." He paused, reading something on the device's screen. "The Men in Black might've had something to do with it. I'm assuming they put a stop to any attempt to find you or look into it, as they had higher government forces on their side – and, they were the ones originally chasing you, anyway. For all intents and purposes, the records I'm looking at indicate that you and Franz are both assumed dead."

"But they were living here under the name Hopper, not Schaeffer," Jeremie pointed out. "Plus, Franz is Waldo's middle name."

"I know. I looked up Schaeffer, and it says you're still alive and gives the address in Zürich – I'm assuming it's the flat you were talking about. However, someone was able to go in and change your birth year to coincide with your actual physical appearance. Instead of having a birthday in the eighties…"

"Well, at least that won't make it too difficult when I apply for a credit card or something later on," Aelita deadpanned. "But that seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through just so they don't show their faces here in France again."

"None of your identities link up," William continued. "As far as the government's concerned, Aelita Hopper, Schaeffer, and Stones are three completely different people: One's assumed dead, the other lives in Switzerland, and the third is a boarder here, with a fake address and parents in Montreal."

"Think about it, Aelita," Yumi said gently. "The last time your dad was here, you both ended up pursued by the Men in Black and had to seek refuge on Lyoko. Maybe he's afraid that, if he shows up here again, they'll get some sort of tip and come looking for him."

"Are we not going to talk about how the powers of the world are fighting over who gets to control XANA?" Giana asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I have an idea, but none of you are going to like it," Jeremie announced. He gave Aelita's hand a quick squeeze in anticipation. "We're going to have to cooperate with Franz and his team. I think that, if we work together, maybe we can figure this out faster."

"Jeremie, are you forgetting he kidnapped Aelita?" Ulrich protested. "You can't be serious!"

"I _am_. I mean, what other choice do we have? He has government agents on his side; we're just a bunch of teenagers fighting monsters! We need _help_. We need _adults_ , and more importantly, ones that know what the hell they're doing." He leaned forward. "This is big, even for us. We can't fight it alone."

Aelita bit her lip. Sure, she had years of resentment for her father and how his paranoia led her to be trapped inside a damn supercomputer for ten years. But she loved her mother, and while she was glad to have some semblance of normalcy in her life again by being back at Kadic, she wanted to get to know her more. She wanted her family to be a unit again.

"Alright," she said. "I'm in."

The rest of the group mumbled in agreement.

"Good." Jeremie cracked a small smile. "We can contact him tomorrow, after class."


	22. Chapter XXII

**Chapter XXII**

* * *

"I'm not against you contacting my father, you know that," Aelita said. "But I have nothing to say to him."

"That's fine," Jeremie assured her. The group was crowded around the terminal in the lab. "This shouldn't take long. He doesn't even have to know you're here."

She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her oversized cardigan. "I don't even want to _be_ here."

"You can leave," Yumi suggested. "We'll give you an update when we're done."

They watched as the girl with the pink hair slowly made her way to the elevator. She stayed with her back to them as the doors closed to take her up to the main level of the factory. She didn't want them to see her cry.

"Should we even be going through with this?" Ulrich asked, skeptical. "I mean, he basically kidnapped her. Regardless of what Aelita says she heard, I don't know if it's such a good idea."

"We don't have any other choice," Jeremie snapped. "You heard her: It's only a matter of time before some government entity gets their hands on XANA's code. With no weapon to destroy him, and no way of confronting the powers of the world…"

"We're screwed," Giana finished for him.

The blonde nodded. "I know she holds a lot of resentment toward her father. But Aelita gave us the go-ahead, and I'm not missing this opportunity." He swiftly typed a few commands into the terminal, bringing up a call window. He unplugged the headset so the group could hear, and sat back as the line rang on the other end.

Franz picked up after a few agonizing moments, his face appearing on-screen. Jeremie must've initiated a video chat by mistake.

"Ah," the man said. He clasped his hands on the table in front of him, though the kids couldn't see it. "Jeremie Belpois." He arched an eyebrow behind his dark glasses. "And company."

"We're not here for pleasantries, Waldo," Jeremie said, feeling brave at the use the man's real first name. "We know what's going on: You and your tech team have run into a few roadblocks regarding the XANA problem, and now with the race for the government's control, we figure we can help each other."

"How so?" he asked idly, taking a drink from a flask. "You're a bunch of teenagers." He paused. "Granted, you're smart – you and my daughter, both. But the rest of you?"

"We can fight," Odd asserted. "We've been lying and fighting our way through this for the last three or so years."

"You can fight specters on Earth and monsters in a virtual world," Franz corrected him. "But when it comes to secret government spies and agents? They don't see you as a threat."

"Well, they're in for a surprise, then," William scoffed.

"Enough nonsense." Franz stood, placing both hands on the table in front of him. He was in an empty room in the underground lab – Anthea and the rest of their team had gone out for food, but he felt it better to stay behind. "How do you think we can help each other, Jeremie?"

"If we can use data from both supercomputers, and search within the deepest depths of Sector Five and the net, I think we can put our heads together and come up with a solution to defeat XANA, once and for all."

"I've been trying," he said flatly. "There's nothing we can do."

"My multi-agent program destroyed him once," the boy countered. "Just because he was brought back, there's no reason to give up hope. We just want to have normal lives again."

Franz craned his neck. "Where's my daughter?"

"Out," Sissi answered coolly. "She's not your biggest fan, if you haven't noticed."

"So, you and Aelita are clever, Jeremie," Franz said, changing the subject. "And the rest of you can fight. I have a team of some of the world's most brilliant minds at my disposal here in Zürich – these same people who worked on Project Carthage with me back in the seventies, before I had to take Aelita into hiding. Before Anthea was kidnapped."

"We know your wife is alive," Jeremie said casually. "Stop playing games – this is serious!"

"You think I don't know that?" the man bellowed. "I've been trying for _years_ to find a solution to stop XANA! I thought sacrificing my digital signature on Lyoko to help boost your stupid multi-agent program was the end of this insanity, but obviously we were _both_ wrong! You've been careless and have used the return function one too many times, making XANA even stronger. And now, since he's no longer tethered to the supercomputer and Lyoko, the powers of the world have been racing to find the exact key sequence to control him and launch an all-out battle of technological warfare!

"You're a sixteen-year-old with a group of friends who can fight. You haven't seen anything until you go up against the Men in Black." He paused, taking a breath. "They're _ruthless_ , and they will stop at nothing until they have what they want!"

"And _you're_ a deranged old man with no hope left for humanity!" Jeremie shot back at him. "If the Men in Black or Secret Service or whatever get their hands on XANA, that's _it_. We're _done_. According to you, we'd all be dead. Is that what you _want_ , Waldo? To lead to the destruction of mankind?"

Franz clenched his fist, banging it down on the table. The sound startled them. "Alright. We'll work together and come up with a solution. Maybe linking our resources will work. But once we're done, I want Aelita back here with my wife and I in Switzerland. I want us to be a family again."

"That's up to her," the blonde said curtly. "And I don't think she'll go for it." He checked his watch. "We have to go. Contact us tomorrow with what information you have. Maybe we can arrange for a transfer."

He ended the call, slumping back in the chair at the terminal. Raking his hands down his face, Jeremie let out a breath.

Odd let out a low whistle. "That would've been a lot easier if he weren't so…"

"Psychotic?" Yumi deadpanned.

"Yeah."

* * *

It was around four in the morning. Aelita was torn from her sleep, screaming, due to a nightmare. Her door immediately flew open to reveal Sissi, Giana and William visible behind her. But she could barely see them, her vision blurry with tears.

The brunette turned to the boy. "Go get Jeremie," she instructed.

He let out a single nod before tearing off downstairs to the boys' corridor.

Sissi wordlessly entered the room, taking the box of tissues off the desk as she passed it, sitting at the foot of the girl's bed. She handed her some, Aelita dabbing at her eyes.

Giana had left, returning a few moments later with her fist clenched around something and a small cup of water in the other hand. Her dog had followed her, padding softly into the room and resting her chin on the edge of the bed.

"Here," she said. "It's Melatonin. It's probably the lowest dose possible, but trust me: It'll calm you down and help you sleep."

Aelita gratefully took the capsule, downing it with the water, still shaking. Vega nudged her hand with her snout, and she reached out to pet the Labrador.

She was about to say something, when her door opened again, revealing the two boys. Jeremie, his hair sticking up and glasses askew, stumbled into the room, tripping on the flannel pajama bottoms that were too long for him, with one sock on his foot and the other balled up in his hand. He wore his coveted Aperture Science T-shirt. Sissi stood, offering him her spot. William closed the door and leaned against it.

"What happened?" the blonde demanded.

"Aelita had a nightmare," Giana explained.

"I see that," he snapped. He refocused on his girlfriend. "Are you alright?"

"The Men in Black were here," Aelita said. "And they had guns. They were shooting at us. A-and my mother was there — she dove in front of my father to protect him, and she was shot and started bleeding out, and there was nothing I could do, and…" She started crying again, leaning into Jeremie as he held her, shushing her gently.

Sissi opened the door for them to leave and give the couple some privacy, but was confronted with almost half the girls on their floor: Milly, Tamiya, Emily, Heidi, Claire, and Anaïs all jumped back when they saw her, undoubtedly having heard the commotion coming from Aelita's room.

The girl scowled. "Shoo," she said, gesturing for them to scatter.

Begrudgingly, the group dispersed, and she was able to leave with William and Giana, the brunette snapping her fingers to call Vega to follow them. The door closed behind them.

"It wasn't real," Jeremie said softly. "Your parents are alive." He kissed her forehead. "They're in Zürich, remember? They're fine."

Though the crying had subsided, she was still shaking. The boy removed his glasses and placed them on her bedside table. She felt her eyelids getting heavy, the medicine starting to kick in. "What if we made the wrong choice?" she said in a half-whisper.

"Regarding teaming up with your father?" He pulled away from her, holding her at arms' length. "We don't have any other option. You heard what he said first-hand: This could turn into an all-out war. We'd die if we can't find a way to end it."

"I know." She flopped back, resting her head on a pillow. "I'm not going back to Switzerland. I… I can't." She yawned. "I love my mother to bits, but…"

He heard her breathing steady as he settled in beside her. "I know."

But their conversation had ended, as she was already asleep. He exhaled through his nose, trying to comb through his brain for a plausible solution.

He didn't sleep a wink, burying his head in the pillow as Aelita's alarm clock went off at quarter past six.

* * *

Jeremie was falling asleep in his food that morning at breakfast, whereas Aelita was chipper as could be.

"So, the Melatonin helped?" Giana inquired, taking a sip of coffee.

The girl nodded, shoving another croissant in her mouth.

"Jeremie?" Odd prodded, nudging him under the table with his foot. "You okay?"

"He didn't sleep," Aelita explained.

"What else is new?" Ulrich deadpanned.

"I was trying to come up with a solution," Jeremie mumbled. He took a large sip of coffee and picked at his food.

"To the XANA thing?" William guessed. "I thought we were discussing that with Franz."

"No, to Aelita staying with us."

"I'm not as worried about that anymore," Aelita said casually. "I realized that, regardless of my father's state of mental stability, he'd never _force_ me to move countries… Plus, when I was in Zürich, I realized something."

"What?" Giana asked.

"My mother — she has a strong hold over him. She's kind of like the glue that keeps him together, in a way." She paused, taking in their expressions. "Look: I love my parents and I want us to be a family again more than anything. But my father can't come back to France because of what happened all those years ago, like he said. And I've made a life for myself here."

"A life built on lies," Ulrich pointed out. "You're Aelita Stones, Odd's cousin from Montreal. Remember?"

She shook her head. "I know that. But if my parents come back, everything will be ruined. Not just for me, either." She paused. "What do you think would happen if the school found out I was falsifying my identity and you all knew about it? Or if the government got involved, for that matter?"

They were silent. The food poised on William's fork fell to his plate.

"Exactly."

"But what are the odds of that happening?" Sissi asked.

They gave her cautious glances, all except William and Giana.

She furrowed her brow. "What?"

"Well," Jeremie started, stirring his coffee, "there was one time you recorded a conversation between Aelita and I, after lights-out, where she admitted she wasn't really "real" — before her memories were recovered — and you played it for your father."

"There was also the time we found a photo of Aelita and her father together, and I accidentally sent it to you," Odd chimed in. "Then you showed it to your dad because you recognized Franz since he used to be a teacher here."

"Luckily, both incidents were erased thanks to the return program," Jeremie finished, avoiding eye contact with the girl.

"So," Sissi started, pushing some food around on her plate, "that was all my fault then?"

"You didn't know it at the time," Aelita said softly. "Don't blame yourself. Please."

Sissi stood, leaving the rest of her food untouched. "I'll see you guys later." She gathered her bag and coat before heading outside.

* * *

 _It's not my fault_ , she repeated over and over in her head. _I didn't almost reveal their secret. I didn't know how big it all was._

Sissi shuffled through the courtyard, hands stuffed in her pockets as she'd left her gloves in her room. She let out an agitated breath.

Hervé appeared out of nowhere, falling into step with her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied.

He side-eyed her. "Right."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine." He checked his watch, though she knew he was just doing it for an excuse to focus on something. "How've you been, Sissi?"

"Alright, I guess," she answered. "You?"

"Nicholas and I miss hanging out with you," he admitted without missing a beat.

"Where is Nicholas?"

"I think he might have the flu or something. I don't know." He shrugged. "After he got ready for the day, he headed straight for the infirmary. He looked really pale."

"Oh."

She didn't know where she was headed. She guessed she could've gone back to her room to get the gloves. There was plenty of time before class — hell, the day students hadn't even started to trickle through the gates yet. She took out her phone, pretending to stare at the screen. A group message popped up from Aelita and Giana, both asking if she was alright. She ignored them, shoving the device back in her bag's outer pocket.

"I have to go," she said, turning in the direction of the dorms. "I forgot something."

"Okay," he said simply. "Hey, wait. Will… Can I have lunch with you today?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Just me?"

"Well… I was hoping the whole group, I guess," he answered. "I know things didn't go well that day when William and I got into the fight—"

"They're over that."

"Right." He paused. "I guess I'm lonely. Nicholas has been distancing himself more, and now he's sick and I don't want to catch it."

She lent him a small smile. "Alright. You can sit with us."

"Thanks." He visibly relaxed. "See you."

She turned on her heel, heading straight to the dorms in search of her gloves. She only hoped they wouldn't have to deal with an activated tower this afternoon. It was enough to field questions from her father, and Hervé had been quiet ever since William practically broke the boy's nose. Since Nicholas was reportedly hanging out with Julien and Heidi more often, according to what she'd been observing, she didn't see a reason as to not let Hervé into their group, at least for lunch.

Maybe today would just be another day. She'd actually love it if something in her life were normal again.


	23. Chapter XXIII

**Chapter XXIII**

* * *

Jeremie never really liked Hervé. They were always in competitions with their grades, and he just thought the boy was way too arrogant for his own good. And yet, here he was, eating lunch with them, seemingly having had a complete turnaround in demeanor.

"Sorry I practically broke your nose," William said offhandedly, biting into his sandwich.

Hervé shrugged. "Sorry I gave you a black eye."

"Are we good now?" Giana cut in. "You're not going to kill each other?"

The boys nodded.

"Yeah," William answered. "It's fine."

"Anyway," Odd started, "did anyone study for the biology exam?"

The group gave their halfhearted answers of yesses and various nods. Ulrich scoffed, however, mumbling about having to pull his grade up or he'd be in danger of getting cut from the soccer team.

"We can go over some key terms right now," Aelita offered. "For example, mitochondria—"

She was cut short by Jeremie's phone blaring the all-too-familiar alert for an activated tower. The color drained from their faces, Hervé ignoring them in favor of his lunch.

Yumi casually sent the group a text: **Who stays and who goes?**

Wordlessly, Jeremie, Ulrich, Aelita, and Giana stood. William was about to say something in protest, to offer to go in place of Aelita to give her a break, but he stopped himself, glancing at Hervé.

"I have to go," Giana said. "Vega… It's time for her to go out."

"And I don't feel so well," Aelita insisted, feigning weakness and leaning into the boys. They held her up, saying they'd take her to the infirmary.

Hervé shrugged. "Whatever. Feel better."

Yumi looked to Sissi, the girl biting her lip and avoiding eye contact. "You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sissi lied. "Just… nervous. About the biology exam."

Yumi smiled. "I'm sure you'll be fine."

* * *

"Anyone know what the attack is?" Ulrich asked, stepping into a scanner.

"Not a clue," Jeremie answered, typing a few commands into the console. "The tower's in the desert sector—" He was cut off as a video chat initiated, the window covering the transfer process. "Hey!"

"Jeremie." It was Franz. "Your friends should be extremely cautious on Lyoko." He adjusted his glasses. "Is Aelita with them?"

"Yes," the boy answered. "I'm sending them now." He paused. "What's going on?"

"I'm not entirely sure," he answered earnestly. "However, when I was studying the codes for the materialization program, some of the safeguards seemed to have been disabled. In addition to deactivating the tower, you're going to need to access the data in Sector Five to reset the process."

Jeremie narrowed his eyes. "Mind telling me how you know all this?"

"You said we could help each other," he replied simply. "This is me, helping."

* * *

The trio landed on Lyoko, vehicles already waiting.

"I've… never ridden a skateboard." Giana hesitated, eyeing the purple Overboard with caution.

"It's a hoverboard," Ulrich said, trying to reassure her. "From what Odd tells me, it's easier than a skateboard." He paused. "You're welcome to ride with me."

"Or me," Aelita offered, already stationed on the Overwing.

The brunette sucked in a breath. "I mean… I guess it's now or never, right?"

She stepped on to the Overboard, the vehicle taking a moment to adjust to her weight, though they were only pixels in a virtual world. She held her arms out to balance. "How do I make it—" She was cut off, the vehicle accelerating at an incredible speed. "Okay, okay! I think I get it!"

"Be careful!" Jeremie warned. "I just got a message from Franz: He said there's a bug in the materialization program. Apparently, some of the safeguards have been disabled. Once the tower's deactivated, we're going to need to reset it by accessing the interface in Sector Five."

"Or," Giana started, "this could be the attack."

Jeremie leaned back. "I hadn't thought of it that way."

"We're going to get detention for not showing up to that exam," Ulrich pointed out.

"If Franz is right, I'm afraid we might have to initiate a return trip," the blonde said grimly. "Let's just see how everything goes for now."

"Hey," Aelita started, destroying an approaching Kankrelat with an Energy Field, "if the materialization program is bugged, don't you think we should call in our resident healer?"

The blonde's face lit up. "You're right! I'll get in touch with Sissi."

* * *

"Now," Ms. Hertz started, her gaze roaming around the room, "hold on. Where are Jeremie, Aelita, Ulrich, and Giana?" She focused on Odd and Sissi. "Well?"

"Giana had to let Vega out, ma'am," Odd answered without missing a beat. "And—"

"And Aelita said she felt really faint after lunch," Hervé finished. "Ulrich and Jeremie took her to the infirmary."

Sissi felt her Apple Watch discreetly tap her on the wrist. Glancing down at it, her eyes widened. She stood in a flurry, gathering her things and grabbing Odd by the arm.

"Elisabeth!" the teacher chastised. "Odd! Sit back down! Where on _earth_ are you two going?"

"Uh, family emergency!" Sissi blurted out.

"But—" They were already out of the room, charging down the corridor of the science building. Ms. Hertz sighed in frustration. "Alright, settle down! Let's start the exam!"

"What's going on?" Odd questioned, shrugging on his jacket and adjusting his backpack.

"Jeremie needs us," Sissi answered. They flung open a side entrance and ran out into the courtyard, spotting Yumi and William ahead of them. "Hey! Did you get the message?"

"Yeah," Yumi answered, already halfway to the tree line. "Come on!"

* * *

"I don't understand," Yumi said, as the door to the scanner closed. "What's going _on_ , Jeremie?"

"I don't know!" he said for what must've been the hundredth time. "Franz said there was a bug in the materialization program and it could be dangerous. After the tower's deactivated, we need to go to Sector Five and find the data to do a restore."

"Send me," William offered, stepping into an open scanner. "I'll work on the interface in Sector Five while they take care of the tower in the desert."

"No way!" Jeremie crossed his arms, defiant, though the older boy couldn't see it. "I'm locked out of the system whenever the interface is in use. It's too risky — what if I need to reload weapons, or resend the vehicles?"

Franz's face appeared on-screen. Jeremie jumped.

"I can work remotely on my end to monitor the progress in Sector Five," the man offered. "That will free up your resources to assist on Lyoko. I can link into the interface, so the data is visible to me here in Zürich. Whatever William finds will be sent to you immediately."

The boy bit his lip, avoiding eye contact. He didn't trust Franz as far as he could throw him (which wasn't far), but they were in a bind. He let out a breath, defeated. "Alright."

The door to William's scanner closed. He pumped his fist in the air as the virtualization process started.

"But Odd and Ulrich are going with you," Jeremie continued. "The girls can handle the monsters in the desert."

"You don't think we can handle the Mantas and Creepers?" Sissi scoffed, landing somewhat close to the others. The tower was in sight but still about half a kilometer away. "That's sexist."

"I know you can handle them!" the boy exclaimed in frustration. "But you're needed _there._ Your healing powers are too valuable for you to be devirtualized by a Creeper."

She made a face before taking off at a run to join the girls.

"Here," Giana said to Odd, stepping off his Overboard. She gestured to it. "Take it."

"Thanks!" He hopped on his vehicle and did circles around the brunette. "Last one to the edge of the sector loses!" He took off, not bothering to wait for a response.

"Hey!" Ulrich protested. "No fair!" He revved the engine on the Overbike, kicking it into high gear. William turned to a stream of black smoke in the ground, leaving the girls to fight an army of oncoming Bloks and Tarantulas.

"Okay," Yumi started, "Aelita, take Sissi and hide. You're both too valuable to lose. Jeremie, watch our lifepoints _like a hawk_. Tell us _exactly_ how many we have left every time we're hit." She turned to Giana. "Come on. Let's go kick some monster ass."

* * *

"Alright," Franz said, a projection of Sector Five appearing in his own holosphere. "You know the drill: You have exactly three minutes to find the key. It should be at the end of the core zone, off to the left down a side corridor."

" _Shit_." Ulrich stopped short, holding out a katana to block the others. At least a hundred infrared laser beams appeared, blocking their path. "Yumi said one hit took ninety lifepoints away from her."

"Jeremie!" William called. "Can you send the vehicles?"

"I can try, but you're better off starting the maze," the boy admitted, typing rapidly into the console. "It's going to take a few minutes, and you're on a time crunch!"

"How are the girls doing?" Odd asked, slowly yet deftly moving through the obstacle course.

"They're doing as best as they can," he answered. "Giana has forty lifepoints left and Yumi, sixty. Sissi's agreed to heal them only if they get below twenty, since there's the cooldown period to deal with."

"Can't you modify that?" William demanded, squeezing himself as close as he could up against a side wall to avoid tripping a laser.

"No," Jeremie said simply. "But I did some digging in the code, and I found out she can actually heal herself without penalty."

"Meaning?" Ulrich pressed.

"She doesn't have to deal with the cooldown — it's only in effect when she does it to someone else."

"Great."

* * *

"Come on my little spider friend, it's time to play!"

Giana ran circles around a Tarantula, rippling in and out of view thanks to her invisibility. Once the monster noticed her and shot a laser, she'd already dodged it, reappearing somewhere out of its field of vision.

"Giana, stop messing around!" Jeremie scolded. "This isn't a game!"

She jumped, throwing her staff in its shortest form, hitting the Tarantula directly in its hitpoint. It exploded, her weapon returning safely to her hand. She sheathed it. "You were saying?"

The boy buried his head in his hands. But he snapped to attention when he heard shouting, coming from the scanner room.

Jeremie scrambled down the ladder, practically jumping off the bottom rung and running to Ulrich, who was in a heap on the floor, half inside an open scanner, screaming a string of expletives in German. He was clutching his right leg.

"Ulrich!" Jeremie shouted, crouching down beside him. "What happened?"

He answered, though he was still speaking German. Jeremie only half-understood it.

"Come again?"

"A laser," he repeated, now in French. "And a Creeper. _My God_ , Jeremie, it _hurts_! The Creeper shot me in the leg and—"

"That's it!" the blonde exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "The attack — the bug in the materialization program, the safeguards that were disabled — that last hit, the one that devirtualizes you — it manifests itself in a bodily injury when you come back to the real world!"

"MY LEG IS BURNING WITH FREAKING ACID!" Ulrich cried.

Jeremie racked his brain. They hadn't thought to keep a first aid kit in the lab, even after all those times where they were so badly bruised or bleeding. But still, the fact that XANA could do this — it both fascinated and terrified him.

A second scanner opened, Giana curled up tightly on her side at the bottom. She was so still, Jeremie wasn't sure if she were even alive.

He took a step closer, peering over her. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw tears streaming down her face, taking a defiant stance to not move.

He admired her for seemingly looking more put together than Ulrich, though from the stories he'd heard, they'd both had their fair share of physical abuse in the past.

Ulrich rolled on to his stomach, attempting a halfhearted army crawl over to the duo. "Is she okay?" he croaked.

"I think she's in shock," he replied slowly, unsure of himself. He reached out to lightly touch her shoulder. "Giana?"

She let out a whimper, mumbling something in Italian that he only partially understood. Upon closer inspection, he realized she was holding her stomach.

"A Tarantula and a Blok," she half-whispered in French. "Fired at the same time. Feels like ten gunshot wounds."

"Neither of you appear to be bleeding, which is a good sign," Jeremie pointed out, trying to be optimistic. He stayed focused on her. "Can you stand?"

She managed to get to her feet, hunched over as she crossed her arms over the injury. She took a shaky step out of the scanner, leaning into him for support.

"We're going up to the lab," he said. "I'll be right back, Ulrich. Just hold on."

But the other boy had already blacked out from the pain.

Whatever XANA had done to the materialization process, Jeremie could only hope they'd find a way to reverse it.


	24. Chapter XXIV

**Chapter XXIV**

* * *

"Jeremie! JEREMIE!"

Giana was alone in the lab, the blonde having gone back down to the scanners to wrangle Ulrich, who was most likely unconscious. She was leaning up against the base of the holosphere; not the most comfortable location, but she guessed it was better than the wall.

But someone from the headset was shouting for Jeremie.

She fumbled, the fiery ache in her stomach never subsiding as she slowly and painstakingly made her way to the chair at the console. She reached up for the headset, securing it before trying to pull herself up into the seat. She thought she was going to vomit.

"Jeremie! Where the hell _are you_?!"

It was Franz.

"Jeremie's not… here right now…" the brunette said, struggling to get herself situated.

"What?" he spat. "Well who the—"

"Giana!" Odd and William said in unison.

"Giana?" Franz arched an eyebrow. He shook his head. "Whatever, you'll have to do. You need to run a process for me."

"I can't…" This was it. Not only was she suffering from the shutdown of the materialization program's safeguards, but now she had to deal with a whole new set of problems. "I can't see the monitors."

"What do you _mean_ ," the man started slowly, gritting his teeth, "you _can't see the monitors_?" He could feel his blood pressure rising.

Times like this made her feel very small when she was younger. Though things had gotten easier as she grew and became more aware of what she could and couldn't see, and technology had advanced for the better, this wasn't one of those cases.

It wasn't a mistake that she could will herself to disappear on Lyoko.

She let out a breath.

"Giana," William started, still stationed at the interface in Sector Five, still trying to dodge lasers as Odd fought off a nest of Mantas, "I'm going to walk you through this step by step, keystroke by keystroke. Alright?"

Her stomach was throbbing, the pain being a central focus in her mind. She heard herself mutter a vague "Mph."

"Okay. Here we go."

* * *

"Alright," Yumi said, defeating the final Tarantula. "The path is clear!"

Aelita came out from her hiding place, Sissi in tow. Sissi stopped to shoot the older girl with a blast of her healing power while the tower was deactivated.

"Thanks," she said, sheathing her fans. "This was a tough one."

"Think nothing of it," Sissi said, flashing a smile. "I'm glad I'm here to help."

"I think we should go to Sector Five," Yumi said abruptly. "After the tower's deactivated. To help the boys."

The younger girl nodded in agreement.

"Okay." Aelita phased through the tower entrance, joining the duo. "We have a slight problem: Giana's at the console in the lab." But before they could say anything, she continued: "You know that last hit that devirtualizes you? Well, the safeguards that were disabled from the materialization program have made it so you exit the scanner with what sounds like a very painful injury."

Yumi slumped forward. Sissi's jaw dropped.

"Jeremie's trying to get Ulrich up into the lab," the girl continued. "He's unconscious."

"All the more reason to help the boys," Sissi pointed out.

Aelita cracked a smile. "We have to get to the edge of the sector — there's no time to lose!"

"Wait a minute." Yumi held her hand up, putting a stop to their conversation. "Jeremie's not at the terminal. Do you really think—"

"William's helping me."

The trio balked as they heard the brunette's voice fill the air.

"Jeremie should… _hopefully_ … be back in a minute," she continued, exhausted. "But if need be, I can… probably get you to Sector Five."

"Are you alright?" Sissi questioned, the girls piling on to the Overwing to reach the edge of the sector faster.

"No."

And then she blacked out.

* * *

"This couldn't have happened," Jeremie grunted, "at a more inconvenient time!"

He'd finally managed to rouse Ulrich enough so that the boy's eyes were open and he was moving in small, baby steps. However, he was leaning heavily against the blonde, and there was a huge difference between hobbling to the elevator with Ulrich on his arm, versus Giana.

The boy mumbled something unintelligible in German as Jeremie pressed the button to take them back up to the lab.

"Don't worry," the blonde said, adjusting his glasses and shifting his weight. "We'll figure this out." _I hope._

The secure mechanism opened, and Jeremie was able to unceremoniously drop his friend against the wall near the elevator before clamoring into the seat at the terminal. However, he almost failed to notice Giana, slumped across his spot with the headset on.

"This is not my day," he muttered.

Gently, he managed to at least pull her out of the chair and lay her on the floor on her side, same as he'd done with Ulrich but taking caution to be more careful with the nature of her injury. He fastened the headset back on and took his rightful place.

"Did you receive the data?" he heard William ask, and it was probably more than once that he'd tried to get the girl's attention — Jeremie noticed a distinct tone of worry in his voice. "Gia? Did you get the data and send the transport?"

"Yeah, I got it," the blonde said casually. "And I'm sending the transport now. _Will._ "

William made a face. "Shut up. _Jer._ "

"This is fascinating," Jeremie said, changing the topic as he read through the lines of code. "It's also going to be a huge pain in the ass to rebuild."

"I can work on finding a permanent solution," Franz offered. "But in the meantime, I have a string of code that may work as a temporary fix."

"I just got it," William confirmed. He paused as he read it; the code was in binary. "It looks like it has the potential to work for about a week."

"And what do we do now?"

The boys turned, finding the girls running at them from the lift. It was Yumi who spoke.

"Welcome to our club, ladies," Odd greeted, gesturing to another set of hatching Mantas. "Would you like an aerial tour?"

Sissi and Yumi jumped on to a newly-materialized Overwing, immediately setting off to destroy the monsters. Aelita held back, William having offered her the interface.

"This doesn't look good," she said, swiping through the data. "Is there anything we can do right now, in lieu of a temporary patch? Would you be able to bring us in manually, Jeremie?"

"I could try," he said skeptically. "But I don't want to risk it from Sector Five. You'll have to get out of there."

"Already on it!" Sissi exclaimed, the Overwing soaring through an open tunnel. The others followed on their vehicles.

"Your plan may work," Franz started, agitation seeping into his voice, "However—"

"I know," the boy cut in. "We're going to have to do another return trip."

* * *

The return in time had helped in terms of physically repairing Ulrich and Giana, and Aelita's solution for Jeremie to manually materialize the rest of them had been a success, though it was a much longer and more drawn-out process than they would've wanted.

That didn't stop the two warriors from being plagued with more night terrors.

Ulrich awoke two nights later, screaming from another nightmare, his earplugs falling out as he jolted upright in bed. But on the other side of the room, Odd still snored peacefully. The brunette glowered at how his roommate could sleep soundly through anything.

He stuffed his feet into a pair of socks, slipping out of their room and slinking upstairs to the girls' corridor. He paused outside Giana's door — if anyone would understand it, she would, as they'd gone through that horrific pain together.

Before he could even knock, the door flew open to reveal the girl, dark circles under her eyes, her dog poking her head out from behind her.

"Hey," he said sheepishly.

"You couldn't sleep either?" She stood aside to let him in.

"Quite the contrary, actually." He sat at her desk, taking note that the light was still on. "Nightmares."

She nodded, sitting cross-legged on her bed. Vega jumped up to join her owner.

"This sucks," she said bitterly.

"Tell me about it."

She let out an agitated breath as she rubbed her eyes. "It's almost like I can still feel it. Like a phantom pain."

"I know." He slumped forward.

They sat in silence for maybe a half hour, maybe less, listening to the soft snoring of the dog, before Ulrich stood and stretched.

"Sorry for bothering you," he said, moving toward the door. "But, thanks."

She shrugged. "Don't mention it."

"Night."

"Night."

He closed the door and leaned against it, letting out a few deep breaths to calm himself as he made his way back down to his room.

* * *

"Did Franz find a solution yet?" Yumi asked the following day at lunch.

"It's been three days," Jeremie pointed out. "Plus, we relived Monday thanks to the return trip. But, to answer your question… No."

" _Le Bal des Débutantes_ is next weekend," Giana said offhandedly, pushing some food around on her plate. Sissi and William exchanged an inconspicuous glance — she still had to finish teaching him the waltz if he ever wanted to not look like an idiot on that dancefloor.

"However," Jeremie continued, ignoring her, "I've been doing some work, digging deeper into that data we recovered — and I think I may have found a fix for our biggest problem."

The group stopped what they were doing all at once: Utensils stood, poised, some with food on them. Aelita had a glass of water halfway to her mouth. Sissi dropped her knife, listening as it clattered to her plate. They all turned to face the blonde.

"It's by way of the Digital Sea," he said in a rush. "We'd have to use the Skid — I think I might have what I'm calling a meltdown code. The only problem is, in order for it to work, we'll have to enter it into every active Replika."

The group remained silent for a full three minutes as Jeremie awkwardly ate some more of his food and took a sip of water.

"How many are there?" William finally asked.

"A lot."

His expression darkened. "How _many_ , Jeremie?"

The boy blanched. "Um… somewhere between fifty and a hundred."

"How is this different from what we've been doing?" Ulrich asked, a hollow tone to his voice. "Destroying the Replika supercomputers, and all that?"

"This code will act as a scrambling device," Jeremie explained. "It'll seek out XANA's signal, wherever it is, and infiltrate it like a worm."

"Using a virus to attack a virus," Odd said in wonder. He shook his head. "I thought you were trying to write another program to destroy the rest of the Replikas."

The expressions on Jeremie, Aelita, and William's faces said it all.

"It didn't work," Aelita mumbled.

"Okay…" Yumi trailed off, taking a moment to reflect. "Can we go in teams of two and use the Navskids? We'd get a lot more done if we split up, kill two birds with one stone."

"We need two people to guard the Skid at its anchor tower, and two more to input the code into the Replika," Jeremie said, sounding tired. "There's only _one_ Skid. You could try coming up from the Digital Sea via the Navskids, but where would you dock them?"

She let out an agitated breath. "It was just a suggestion."

"Alright," Sissi started, "but this sounds like it's going to take a long time. Like, a _very_ long time." She paused. "Can't you make another Skid, Jeremie?"

"We'd have to add another hangar to Sector Five," Aelita said, without missing a beat. "But, it could work. Two Skids mean we can mess with twice the Replikas at half the time."

"Hold on," William cut in. "There are only seven of us — Jeremie always stays at the factory to monitor our progress. If we're splitting up evenly, we need an eighth person on Lyoko."

"Well," Jeremie started apprehensively, "I have an idea." He looked to Aelita. "But you're not going to like it."

Just then, the bell rang, signifying the end of their meal.

* * *

"You want to ask _my father_?!"

Aelita was fuming. It was after classes had ended, and they were at the factory. Jeremie couldn't even look her in the eye when he'd suggested it.

He bit his lip. "Aelita—"

"No, _you listen._ " She took a bold step toward him. "My father is unstable. Sure, he's helped us thus far, but his mentality aside, he's _old_ , Jeremie. He's an _adult_. If we're going to get a ninth warrior on board, then we need to focus on someone who can actually _fight_ , and not just with technology!"

"She has a point," Sissi chimed in.

"Okay, I'll admit, it was a bad idea," Jeremie said. "But what are our other options, here?"

"What if there's an activated tower while we're dealing with the Replikas?" William demanded. "We'd be out of luck."

Jeremie deflated. "Damn. You're right."

Aelita's expression changed from flaming mad to triumphant as she realized they wouldn't have to call upon Franz to fight alongside them after all. "My father can keep an eye on our progress via the supercomputer in Zürich," she said. "But _only_ that." She gave her boyfriend a sidelong glance. "You know, Jeremie…"

He stood from his place at the terminal. "I'm not going to Lyoko." He crossed his arms. "I refuse."

Before Aelita had time to retaliate, Ulrich stomped over to the blonde, getting right up in his face.

"Listen," he said in a low voice. "The last time I went to Lyoko, I came out of that damn scanner with a freaking _acid wound in my leg_. And you're afraid of going because another Megatank might devirtualize you?" He took half a step back. "I'm sorry, Jeremie, but we have bigger things to worry about here. You either join us or we don't go."

"Ulrich—"

"No. You're in this all the way, Jeremie. I know running the supercomputer is tough, but fighting on Lyoko is even harder. We come out of the scanners _exhausted_ , sometimes _wounded_ , and half the time we still have to deal with whatever XANA's destroying here in the real world! It's time you actually became a warrior." He paused, taking a breath. "I mean it. If you don't go, I don't go at all."

"Same here."

Everyone turned to look at Giana.

"Ulrich and I were severely injured last time," she continued. "And we haven't slept since."

"I still feel like I have phantom pains in my leg," the boy added.

The group fell silent for a moment. Franz's face, unwelcomed, appeared on-screen.

"Alright," Jeremie said, defeated. "I'll go. We'll start tomorrow."


	25. Chapter XXV

**Chapter XXV**

* * *

William awoke to a sharp pain on his side, having thrashed around so much in his sleep that he fell out of bed. It was another nightmare.

He _knew_ he'd been under XANA's control. He could feel it. But the rest of the details were fuzzy. It wasn't a clear memory or flashback, as were the usual subjects of his terrors. But whatever had happened, he knew it was similar to that familiar out-of-body experience that took place when he was within the AI's grasp for all that time.

Sure, normal people who were possessed had no idea what they had done as soon as it ended. It was like they lost a day or blacked out — they literally _could not_ remember what happened while under XANA's spell. But, since his own personal Hell had started while on Lyoko, and he was captive for such a long period of time, he was able to recall in vivid detail the events that took place on Lyoko and Earth. A few minor things were fuzzy here and there, like some of the injuries he'd caused, but he knew the brunt of it. It played practically every night when he went to sleep, like a bad horror movie that wouldn't end.

He weighed his options: He wanted to go upstairs, talk to Giana. But he was already on thin ice with Jim and the principal, given he'd been caught outside after curfew twice recently, and then there was that whole business where he practically broke Hervé's nose. If he were caught in the girls' hall at this hour, he'd be suspended for sure.

No, he'd have to settle for the next best thing: Jeremie. Maybe a tower would activate and he could release some more of his pent-up anger.

He approached the boy's room, stopping a moment outside the door. He swore he heard music coming from inside, but it ceased as soon as he knocked. His alarm clock had said it was close to one in the morning when he'd woken up — but, it was common knowledge to practically all the boarding students that Jeremie never slept.

The blonde answered, in boxers and a T-shirt but no glasses, distinctly blocking him from entering. "What?"

William arched an eyebrow. "Are you busy?"

"A little bit."

"Well, this'll just take a minute." He shouldered his way past the younger boy and into the room, stopping in his tracks when he realized what was going on.

Clusters of LED candles were flickering (open flames weren't allowed in the dorms), and out of the corner of his eye he saw Aelita, mortified, her mouth open in a silent scream as she clutched Jeremie's blanket to her so tightly, he was sure her knuckles were turning white.

She immediately hid her face, suddenly becoming fascinated with the Einstein poster.

William backed out of the room, looking straight ahead at the window. "This never happened."

"Already forgotten," the couple said in unison. Jeremie shut and locked his door.

He silently went back to his room, gathering some things. A shower sounded very inviting right about then.

* * *

Giana couldn't stop laughing when he told her the next morning, before everyone else had gotten to breakfast.

"That would be like _them_ walking in on _us_!" he said, exasperated.

"But Jeremie willingly _opened the door_ ," she pointed out, still not managing to keep a straight face.

He was about to say something back, but she was right. Regardless, it was no use; Odd and Ulrich showed up. Sissi had opted to sit with Hervé, Nicholas, Heidi, and Julien, with the promise to rejoin them at lunch.

Jeremie and Aelita staggered in, both avoiding eye contact. They obviously _hadn't_ "forgotten" what happened the night before, but William couldn't believe how awkward they were being about it. However, it was them — the blonde especially was awkward about everything.

He shrugged it off, hiding his expression in his cup of coffee.

"I got a message from Franz last night," Jeremie started off, pushing some scrambled eggs around on his plate. "He thinks he might've had a breakthrough, but we're going to confirm it after class."

"Good," Ulrich said. "After that last devirtualization…" He shuddered.

Giana stared down into her hot chocolate. "Don't remind me."

"But he thinks he found the cause of the bug?" William pressed. "I mean, the temporary fix is fine for now I guess, but we need something more permanent."

"I don't know," the blonde mumbled. "Like I said, we'll find out later."

"Jeremie's very stressed out," Aelita clarified, taking in the others' expressions at his curtness. "This whole thing has been… a lot."

"We're going on the Replika mission tonight, right?" Odd chimed in. "You said you were able to duplicate the original Skid's code to create another."

"Yeah," Jeremie answered. "That's the other thing I'm worried about."

"I don't know if I can make it," Giana said. "My grandparents have been pushing me to have dinner with them again."

"Can't you do it on Sunday or something?" William suggested.

The brunette shook her head. "They're really adamant about doing it tonight."

"Well, that's it," Ulrich announced. "If we're not all available, none of us can go."

"Hey, if all goes according to plan, I should be back in time," she argued. "I just have to make a subtle exit. The mission is still happening."

"That's what I was afraid of," Jeremie mumbled.

"Okay, so it's a date," Odd confirmed. "We just need to tell Sissi and Yumi."

* * *

"Pépé, really, I'm not that hungry."

It was getting late. Giana and her grandparents had finished their main dinner course. Ingrid cleared the plates and offered dessert.

"I'd rather just go back to Kadic," the girl continued. "I have a lot of homework."

Pauline ignored her. Jean-Luc was already on his fifth glass of whiskey — or was it his sixth? She couldn't tell.

"Nonsense, _ma chèrie,_ " he said idly. "I thought you _loved_ Ingrid's crème caramel!"

"I do, but—"

"Pardon my interruption," Quentin said, standing in the doorway to the formal dining room, "but you have some visitors, Miss De Luca."

 _Thank God._ "Oh?" She took a long sip of wine.

"May I present" — he moved aside, giving a grandiose gesture — " _Mademoiselles_ Aelita Stones, and Sissi Delmas."

Giana stood so abruptly that her chair almost fell backwards, the linen napkin on her lap fluttering to the floor. She quickly attempted to compose herself, still holding the wine glass as Sissi and Aelita stood by — she couldn't see it, but Sissi was clearly having a field day with the formal introduction she'd just been given. Aelita, on the other hand, simply blushed and gave a shy smile, not quite sure what to make of it.

"Sissi, Aelita—" She had to choose her words carefully. "How's… the project? For history."

"Oh, um," Aelita fumbled. "We've run into a bit of a snag."

"Yeah," Sissi added, piggybacking off her momentum. "We _really_ need your help with the research."

"A history project?" Pauline questioned, sounding genuinely interested. "On what? You know, we have a study in the east wing; it may have the material you're looking for."

"No, Mémé, that's fine," Giana said quickly. "This has to be done online. And, with my laptop at school—"

"We _really_ need to go," Sissi implored. She eyed Ingrid as the woman quietly placed dessert on the table, giving a polite nod to the two girls as she passed them. "Although, we could probably stay for dessert…"

Giana slumped back down into her chair, going over her options: Clearly Sissi and Aelita had shown up to save her from her dysfunctional family dinner so they could join everyone else on the Replika mission. She had planned to feign illness or exhaustion — the latter would've been the best bet, as she hadn't really slept all week despite the Melatonin — with the intention of asking Quentin to take her back to school. However…

"Wait." She peered across the table at them. "How did you get here?"

"We took an Uber," Aelita explained, digging into the crème caramel.

"I don't have my unrestricted license yet," Sissi added, a hint of bitterness to her voice.

"Quentin will take you all back to the academy," Pauline said casually. "There's no need to rely on a shared car service."

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, the girls finally returned to the school, heading for the factory as soon as Giana dropped Vega off in her room. She'd made sure to turn on the string lights that framed the polaroids on her wall so the dog wouldn't be in total darkness.

"Thanks," she said once more as they made their way up on to the bridge. "I have a feeling I'd still be there if you two hadn't rescued me."

"Your grandparents seem nice," Aelita said, trying to give the couple the benefit of the doubt.

"My grandfather's fine," the brunette confirmed. "My grandmother can be kind of a witch."

"Tell me about it," Sissi drawled as they entered the elevator. Aelita punched in the lab's access code. "You haven't met _my_ mémé."

"Where the hell were you?!" Jeremie snapped as the elevator opened. "You've been gone for almost two hours!"

"Believe me," Giana started, trudging into the room, "I _tried_ to get us to leave! I had Quentin on standby! But _no_." She stopped in her tracks, gesturing to the two girls. "They insisted on staying for dessert."

Odd just about keeled over out of jealousy.

The brunette folded her cane and started down the ladder to the scanners. "Come on."

"I'm connected on my end and am just about to start the virtualization process," Franz said, his voice filling the air as the group made their way downstairs. They huddled in the middle of the room in a circle, facing outward. "This'll take some time. Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich will go first."

Ulrich stalled a moment, apprehensive about stepping into the scanner after the ordeal he'd been through the last time. Yumi leaned forward to whisper something in his ear that the rest of them couldn't hear. He nodded, unclenched his fists, and stepped into a scanner.

They all waited as the trio readied themselves, scanner doors closing as soon as they were situated. The process took a few minutes, as Franz was performing it remotely. Jeremie tried in vain to avoid biting his nails in anticipation.

"Next up," Franz continued, "are William, Sissi, and Giana."

Jeremie and Aelita watched as three more of their friends went through the virtualization process. Sissi almost looked bored, and Giana's demeanor was similar to Ulrich's, undoubtedly afraid of the devirtualization that would most certainly come. William said something to her in English that Jeremie barely understood, and then made his way to the only open scanner. He was really in the mood to fight some monsters.

"And, last but not least," Franz said, weary, "is Jeremie and Aelita."

The girl squeezed his hand. "Let's go," she said quietly, breaking away and heading to an open scanner.

Jeremie swallowed hard, fidgeting, adjusting his glasses for probably the thousandth time. Flashes of his last excursion to Lyoko replayed in his head as he was cruelly devirtualized by a Megatank, Odd and Ulrich (but especially Odd) also mocking him for his avatar's appearance.

It's not as if he _wanted_ to look ridiculous in the virtual world. Everyone knew the subconscious took over when creating one's Lyoko form, weapons, and powers. It wasn't his fault he looked more like a cross between an elf and Peter Pan, and less like a warrior.

* * *

They landed in the arena in Sector Five.

"You have three minutes to find the key," Franz instructed, already bored. "Check the corridor on your right as you head through the core zone — it should be high up on the wall."

"Wait!" William stopped short at the head of the group, holding out his Zweihänder sword to block everyone. He'd spent his spare time digging through the code for the avatars, and was finally able to remove the giant XANA symbol from his chest the previous night. At least that was better than going back to his old form, which vaguely reminded him of Aelita's elf doll.

They watched with bated breath as gigantic blocks from the ceiling came crashing down into the hall in front of them, moving back up again without a moment's notice.

"Damn it!" Odd shouted. "I'm not getting flattened again!"

Ulrich and William exchanged a knowing glance.

"We'll go," the younger boy said. "With our powers, we're the only ones who can make it through this with a hope of survival."

"You said the temporary patch for the devirtualization bug is still working, right?" William asked, addressing Franz.

"Yes," the man confirmed. "I have a window open right now; the process is still going. In theory, if these fragments devirtualize you, you should emerge from a scanner in the usual state of exhaustion, but without the injuries of last time."

"Well, I don't want to take that risk," Ulrich announced. "We're running out of time, and we need every one of us here. Super Sprint!"

The group stood by, watching the duo weave through the blocks with their powers. Once they reached the other side, they turned to the right and headed down a narrow corridor, coming out into a larger room with the key just as Franz had said: Up high, on a wall, with multiple platforms to get to it.

"You go," William offered. "I'll stand guard in case we have any unwanted company."

Ulrich nodded, taking advantage of his super speed to jump up from one platform to the next, reaching and activating the key with seconds to spare. They heard the rest of the team cheer as they met up and journeyed to the hangar bay.

"What do you say, girls against boys?" Odd suggested. They stopped before the two transfer platforms.

"No," Franz said curtly. "You all have talents that, combined, could be beneficial for either team." He cleared his throat. "We'll do this—"

"Aelita will pilot one Skid," Jeremie interrupted, "and I'll pilot the other."

" _You?_ " William shouted, exasperated. His sword turned to smoke as it disappeared. "You've only been here five minutes!"

"That may be true," he started, "but how hard can it be?"

"I'm sorry, Jeremie," the older boy said, making his way to the center of the left-hand platform, "but I'm piloting this sub. You can be my right-hand man, but you've never driven a Skid before."

Jeremie was getting angry. "And you _have_?" He brandished the dagger that had been sheathed at his side.

William's expression darkened. "I have fond memories of piloting the Rorkal through the Digital Sea when I was under XANA's control."

Giana arched an eyebrow. "Rorkal?"

"XANA's dark copy," Yumi clarified. "It was to counteract the Skid."

William looked back at Jeremie. "You can be my right-hand man," he offered again. "And that leaves… Sissi and Ulrich."

Giana took a step back, feigning hurt. "Hey!"

Aelita let out a laugh as she made her way to the center of the right-hand platform. "Don't worry, Giana, you can be my right-hand woman." She gestured for Odd and Yumi to follow.

"Can I start the transfer process now?" Franz demanded.

"Yes," Aelita answered. She let out a breath. "Do you know where you're sending us?"

The man cracked a smile. "You have your choice of Boston, or Manhattan. The supercomputers are once again located underground: Manhattan's is in the catacombs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

"Where's the one in Boston?" Giana inquired, familiarizing herself once more with the inside of her Navskid.

"It's right in your backyard, actually," he said, typing in the coordinates once the teams were out of Sector Five. "Harvard University, under their science center — more specifically, the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments wing."

"Great," she said dryly.

"Aelita," Franz continued, "I'm sending your team to the museum. William's will take Harvard."

"We don't get a choice?" William sputtered as they entered the network, heading toward their respective Replikas.

"It would be better if Aelita's team went to Boston," Jeremie argued. "Giana grew up in Cambridge — she'd know where she's going better than any of us!"

"And that's precisely the point," the man countered, sipping from a flask. "This makes it an equal playing field."

He didn't want to admit what a tedious solution this was — inserting a scrambler into the remaining Replikas to diminish what was left of XANA's power. However, it was their only option, and his team of scientists with him in Zürich were proving to be useless.

Still, it gave him something to do: Instead of bossing around people his age, he could micromanage the kids.

He noticed some monsters on one of the oversized screens that were monitoring their progress. "Hang on, kids." He leaned back in his plush chair. "It's going to be a bumpy ride."


	26. Chapter XXVI

**Chapter XXVI**

* * *

William's team emerged on to a Replika of the mountain sector, while Aelita's Skid found refuge in one of Sector Five.

"This is creepy," Giana noted as they docked, staring out from the inside of her Navskid.

"You'll all notice that I've taken the liberty to give each of you a communications device," Franz said. "Its purpose is to relay information between the Replikas and your real-world locations. They look like standard black smartwatches — just raise your wrist and speak into it so everyone else can hear you."

"Who's staying and who's going?" Aelita asked her team, ignoring him.

"I'll stay," Giana offered. "I'd rather guard the Skid."

"Alright. Yumi? Odd?"

"I'll go," Odd replied, without missing a beat.

"Aelita, you should stay," Yumi said gently. "I mean, it's up to you, but unless you really want to go on another wild goose chase…"

The girl nodded. "You're right. I'll watch the Skid."

"Okay," Franz said. "William and Jeremie have decided to go to the university. I'm starting the transfer process now. This will take a few minutes."

* * *

The boys landed in Cambridge, right in the middle of Harvard Yard.

"Well, this is ironic," William said, speaking into his comms device. "You know that whole 'Park your car in Harvard Yard' thing?"

"Yeah," Giana replied dryly. She brandished her weapon. "It's full of trees. No one can actually park there."

Jeremie looked around in awe. "Okay." He gripped the handle of his dagger. "By my calculations, we're somewhere on the southern part of the campus."

"You're correct. You're going to want to head north," Franz instructed. "It's about a five-minute walk." He paused. "I should've mentioned this earlier: In light of the materialization safeguards not fully up to par, this also affects how you appear in the real world. Usually no one can see you unless they're possessed, however…"

"You've got to be _kidding me_ ," William spat as they rounded the corner of a dorm building. "You mean we might get caught?!"

"If so, I'll have you out of there and back in the Skid before anything bad happens."

"That _is_ something bad happening!" Jeremie shouted. "You've sent us to two of the most heavily-surveilled cities in the United States!" He spoke into his comms unit. "Are you all hearing this?!"

"Yes," Yumi replied curtly as she and Odd attempted to cross a very crowded Park Ave. A security camera on the corner of a building caught her eye. "We'll be careful."

"You'd notice right away," Franz said quickly, typing a few commands into his console. "The people around you would know immediately that you're not supposed to be there."

He was really trying to buy them some time in his excuses. Finding a permanent patch for the materialization bug was proving to be more and more difficult by the hour, not to mention his team members were also coming up empty-handed.

"Yeah," Odd said. "We stick out like a sore thumb! We're armed!"

"I'm trying my hardest to come up with a solution," the man admitted, redirecting their conversation. "My colleagues have been devoting every spare moment of their time to it since we got the data from Sector Five. If only…"

He paused once more, listening as a woman entered the room and whispered something in his ear in German.

* * *

"Franz?" Yumi prodded. "You there?"

She and Odd had finally reached The Met, but they weren't sure where to go from there. In the case of the Boston City Hall supercomputer, Aelita and Giana had just entered from an inconspicuous, unmarked door around the side.

"Yes," the man responded. "Sorry, a colleague of mine was briefing me — it seems we've found our solution to the issue with the materialization program. It was hidden deep in the roots of—"

"That's really great," Odd interrupted, firing a laser arrow and rendering a possessed piece of construction equipment useless. "Now can you give us some direction, here?"

"Right." He adjusted his glasses, focusing on their monitor. "You can walk in the front entrance. The way to access The Met's supercomputer is via their surveillance center: Once you enter the room, there's a hidden panel off to the right that houses an unmarked door. You're going to want to open it and head down the stairs, then follow the hallway to the right. The room you're looking for is at the very end, straight ahead."

"Got it," Odd said. "How are the others?"

"They're… managing."

* * *

"This is _great_ ," Sissi snapped, taking out another Blok as it tried to attack the Skid. "I swear, this is the last time I babysit the stupid submarine!"

"You could've gone with William," Ulrich countered, jumping away as a Tarantula exploded upon impact with one of his katanas. "You didn't _have_ to stay."

"Let's be real here, for a second," she started, crossing her arms. "Jeremie has no idea what the hell he's doing on Lyoko — you said it yourself that the first time he ever really went, he was devirtualized by a Megatank and refused to go back!" She paused. "Plus, William already said he could be his right-hand man."

"Everyone has a tough first time on Lyoko!" the boy countered, sheathing his weapons. He stood on guard.

"Right, but he doesn't know how to fight. He was the better choice to go with William; at least if something bad happens in Cambridge, Franz can pull them out immediately. But — no offense — if he'd stayed here to protect the Skid, he wouldn't last two minutes."

Ulrich sighed. "I guess. But he never really wanted to learn. He's always been the brains of the operation; very rarely has he been the muscle."

"I just got a very interesting piece of information," Franz interrupted, making sure everyone could hear him. "We've been monitoring international news reports for quite a while, and apparently one of my colleagues failed to inform me of a small explosion at an unmarked entrance to Boston City Hall a few weeks ago."

The teams went silent. Aelita threw an Energy Field at a Creeper and missed.

"Jeremie and I heard two off-duty police officers talking about it on our way to the science center," William confirmed.

"Which one of you did it?" the man demanded, ignoring him.

No one wanted to rat Aelita out; however, she figured she should own up to her mistake. Franz _was_ her father, and she guessed that did mean something.

"It was me," she said quietly. "I didn't realize it would be a problem."

"I asked if someone would notice it and you just brushed it off!" Giana exclaimed. "Boston's been rightfully paranoid ever since the Marathon Bombing!"

"What marathon bombing?" Odd inquired, speaking into his comms unit.

"It was in April, during a school vacation a few years back," the brunette clarified. "Two brothers placed homemade bombs at the marathon finish line. The fallout injured hundreds and killed three — four, actually, counting an MIT campus police officer who was shot later in the week. Anyway, it launched a five-day manhunt which placed Boston and its surrounding cities in lockdown. Our housekeeper couldn't make it and twelve-year-old me had to answer the door for two FBI agents who asked if we knew anything, as they'd been going house-to-house." She paused as she took out a Tarantula. "But, they caught one of the guys in a shootout — he hid in a boat in someone's backyard — and now he's in prison for life. The other was accidentally run over when they hijacked a car."

The boy's jaw dropped. "You said all that way too casually."

"I'm surprised, Odd," Jeremie said offhandedly. "That's why the Eiffel Tower lit up in color, remember?"

"That was four years ago! I barely remember what we learned in Mr. Fumet's class today!"

"You have to make these missions look like an accident!" Franz cut in, agitated. "I'm sure Jeremie's told you all time and time again that we don't want attention called to us. This has to be done silently, and swiftly. That's why the safeguards are in place."

Aelita narrowed her eyes, firing another Energy Field at the Creeper. This time, she succeeded.

"Did you hear me?" he demanded.

They all muttered yesses as Franz leaned back to check on their progress.

"Team Cake Knife," Odd said into his comms unit. "How are you guys holding up?"

"It's not a cake knife!" William shouted. "We're fine. We're outside the room with the supercomputer, but there's an access code to get in." He looked to Jeremie. "Any ideas?"

"Well," the boy started, "we don't have the proper equipment to hack in and disable the keypad." He started to fidget, turning his dagger over in his hand. "Waldo?"

Franz rolled his eyes at Jeremie's use of his real name. "I'm on it."

"Wait," William said. "Maybe this'll work."

The boy turned to smoke, easily slipping under the door. He was able to unlock it from the inside. Jeremie was flabbergasted.

"What if an alarm goes off?!" he protested. "What if—"

"Then we're going to have to _hurry_ ," William implored, already stationed at the main interface for the supercomputer. "Franz. We need that code. _Now_."

"A-alright." The man canceled the decrypting process and called up the scrambling device Jeremie had sent him earlier on. "This may take a minute. The supercomputer at The Met is already going through the data, so I just hope—" The process had finished. "Never mind, it's done. I'm sending it your way. You'll see a prompt on-screen for a program installation; hit accept and follow the instructions."

"Right." William stepped aside, gesturing for Jeremie to take over. "I'll stand guard out in the hall." A halo of black smoke covered his hand as he summoned his sword.

The blonde cracked his knuckles. "Okay, let's see what we're working with here…" He started typing rapidly, as the installation for the worm opened up a root folder for the inner-most workings of the mainframe. Every time they implanted this virus, it would seek out the strongest part of XANA's code and chip away at it until there was nothing left. "The more Replikas we can get to, the weaker XANA will be."

"And no one will notice it?" they heard Sissi ask.

"Precisely," he answered. "The program will be invisible to the naked eye; even the most tech-savvy person would _really_ need to know what they're looking for to find it."

"Team Wings to Team Cake Knife," Yumi said over the comms unit. "We're finished here. We'll rendezvous with our team and head back to the hangar bay in Sector Five."

"If one more person calls my sword a cake knife…" William threatened jokingly. The rest of the group laughed at his expense.

Franz leaned back in his chair. Although he'd been against this whole idea from the start, he had to admit how refreshing it was to work with the kids. Maybe Anthea was right: He just needed to calm down a little; treat them as equals instead of the rebellious adolescents that they were.

However, this mission was almost too easy — it wasn't as if XANA would've expected them to attack at the source, but they hadn't run into nearly as much trouble as he'd anticipated.

He took a long drink from his flask as he watched the kids make their way through the network and back to the hangar bay unscathed. There was definitely a storm brewing — he could feel it. And he knew it was going to be big.

* * *

"Good work, everyone," Jeremie commended, once they were all back in the lab. "We were able to set Plan B into motion."

"I thought Plan B was last year's shut-down the Replika supercomputers," Ulrich said dryly.

"Okay, fine — this is Plan C." He paused. "And, with Saturday classes canceled for the remainder of the term, we'll have some extra time to keep at it."

Yumi checked her watch. "It's almost one in the morning!" She gathered her things in a hurry. "I have to get home — my parents are going to kill me!"

"I thought they stopped giving you the third degree when you told them you were in love," Ulrich reminded her. They all piled into the elevator.

"That doesn't change the fact that I still have a curfew."

Odd let out a laugh. "So? We do too, but you don't see us abiding by it!"

They continued the walk in silence. Once they reached the park, Yumi gave Ulrich a quick kiss before taking off in the direction of the school gates. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

Sissi checked her phone. "Oh, no! I have at least twenty missed notifications from my father!"

"Your watch didn't alert you to anything?" Jeremie asked.

"I had everything on Do Not Disturb," she explained. "And then we went to Lyoko… Ugh, I completely forgot he wanted to do something with me tonight!"

* * *

Jean-Pierre was already waiting for her when Sissi returned to her room. His presence startled her as she opened the door.

"Daddy!" she said, flashing a fake smile. "What a surprise!"

The man narrowed his eyes.

"We were at a movie," she explained, before he had time to ask.

"That's odd," he said in a low voice, starting to pace. "Mr. Pichon said he saw you get out of a black town car with Miss Stones and Miss De Luca, and that the three of you came back here. But that was hours ago."

She dropped her coat and bag to the floor.

"A movie, of all things!" he shouted, turning on her. "Now you're _lying_ to me?! What has gotten into you, Sissi?"

"I…" She could feel her face turning bright red.

"I'm very disappointed in you," he continued. "You're gone for hours at a time, you don't answer your phone, you don't respond to messages — how am I supposed to know where you are and that you're safe?!"

"I'm _fine_ ," she spat. "Aelita and I went to Giana's grandparents' in Neuilly-sur-Seine. They'd invited us over for dessert. After that, we came back here and—"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he demanded.

Her expression fell.

He let out a breath. "Well, at least you're here now. But you're grounded until Monday."

"Daddy—"

"That's final." He opened the door to leave. "Good night."

She sank to her knees, numb. In all the years of getting away with everything, Sissi had hardly dealt with any repercussions for her actions (except for that one time when she did poorly on the biology exam, but she'd snuck out anyway). Now, she had no choice: Either she complied with her father's terms to keep him at bay, or she could completely ignore him and join the others on the Replika missions.

"Sorry, Daddy Darling," she mumbled bitterly, changing into a pair of pajamas, "but saving the world is more important than respecting your wishes."

* * *

 _Giana was in the desert sector, alone. She spotted a neutral tower off in the distance and started running._

" _Jeremie!" she called. "Jeremie! Can you send a vehicle?"_

 _Silence._

" _Jeremie?"_

 _Monsters materialized, one after the other: First, it was a swarm of Hornets, shooting at her with their acid lasers. Right below them were a group of Kankrelats, followed by some Krabs, Tarantulas, Bloks, Megatanks, and even a few Creepers. XANA had sent the whole cavalry._

" _JEREMIE!"_

 _Still, no one answered._

" _William! Aelita!_ Someone _, answer me!"_

 _She kept running, dodging the lasers, attempting to deflect them from behind with her staff. But even though she had the tower in sight, it wasn't getting any closer._

" _The materialization safeguards are down," she heard Jeremie say. "Be careful — it's dangerous!"_

" _Jeremie!" She slowed her pace. "There you are! What the hell is going on?"_

" _The materialization safeguards are down," he repeated._

" _But you just said—"_

 _She stopped short, a laser whizzing right by the side of her face. She spun around to face the army of monsters, now having tripled in size._

" _Jeremie, come on!" she pleaded. "This isn't funny! Bring me in!"_

" _The materialization safeguards are down…"_

 _She had come to a break in the plateau; the tower was still dead ahead, but she had no way of accessing it. Aelita wasn't there to alter the terrain, and she had no vehicle._

 _She surrendered, dropping her weapon to the desert floor. It was at that exact moment that all of the monsters decided to shoot at once._

* * *

"NO!" the brunette shrieked, jolting upright in bed. Her alarm clock said it was after four in the morning, though she couldn't see it; her vision was blurred with tears.

The door flew open. "What is it?" she heard Sissi ask. Someone turned on a light. "What's wrong?"

She tried to answer, but she couldn't speak — she could barely breathe, for that matter. She vaguely felt her dog nudging her with her cold snout, to bring her back down to earth. But she just felt herself shaking, crying, pulling the blankets up around herself as she tried to respond, to make sense of the nightmare.

"I can't," she heard herself say. "I can't — I—"

"I think she's having a panic attack," Aelita said in a rush. She stalled, trying to recall what she'd read on the matter. "Um, we need to calm her down. We have to…"

They heard footsteps — someone was running down the girls' corridor.

Aelita felt helpless. "Who else would be up at this hour?"

William and Ulrich slid to a stop in front of the open door, both of them so flustered in their rush to get there that they tried to enter the room at the same time. They finally crashed to the floor. Vega let out a whimper.

"Sissi texted me," William explained, scrambling to his feet. He practically fell over himself again once he laid eyes on his girlfriend.

Ulrich shut and locked the door. "What the hell happened?"

"Why are you here?" Sissi demanded.

"I was coming back from the bathroom, actually," he shot back, "but then I saw him in a hurry. Nice to see you, too, by the way."

"Giana—" William sat down beside her and held her by the shoulders. "Say something."

"I can't go back to Lyoko!" she cried. "The safeguards are down! We'll get hurt again! We can't… I…" She was on the verge of hysterics.

"Look at me," the boy said softly. "Hey— Look at me."

She complied, barely, but it was enough for him to keep going.

"You're alright. It was just a nightmare."

"I don't want to go back as much as you do," Ulrich added. "But it's safe."

"Jeremie said my father was able to issue a permanent patch," Aelita explained, sitting on the floor between the boys. "We'll be okay." She paused. "You need to breathe."

No one noticed that Sissi had left and came back. "Here." She outstretched a hand holding a small, white pill. "It's an anti-anxiety med."

Ulrich arched an eyebrow. "Don't you have to have a prescription for those?"

"Will you _shut up_?" she spat. "This is an over-the-counter supplement!"

"Why are you being such a bitch?!"

"Both of you, stop it!" Aelita chastised. "If you can't be civil toward one another, you need to leave!"

"I think you should all go," William ordered. He still held Giana, who was slowly starting to calm down. "Thanks for the help, but it's late."

The trio stared at him.

"Go on," he continued. "Go back to bed while it's still dark."

They left, albeit begrudgingly. He got up to turn off the light. Vega stretched, curling back up into a ball on her bed.

William settled in beside the brunette. "You know, I think we could all use a break," he said in a half-whisper. "Jeremie can't force anyone into something they don't want to do."


	27. Chapter XXVII

**Chapter XXVII**

* * *

William forgot to remove his watch the previous night, and was roused from his sleep before eight in the morning by a group text from Jeremie: He'd asked everyone to get ready and meet him at the factory. They had more Replikas to infiltrate.

Eyeing Giana's watch on the charger, it lit up with the same notification as he disentangled himself from her and quietly slipped out into the hall. He initiated a call with the blonde.

Jeremie answered almost immediately. "Hey, where are you? You left your door wide open."

"I'm not going," he said. "And neither are Ulrich and Giana."

"What do you _mean_ you're not—"

"Sorry, Jeremie, but they need a day off," he said curtly. "We _all_ need a day off."

Before the boy had time to retaliate, William ended the call. He looked up to find Sissi, staring at him from her doorway.

"That'll come back to bite you in the ass," she said casually.

He unbuckled the leather strap to his watch, clutching the device in his hand. "I don't care."

She twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "I'm grounded. My father was waiting for me when I got back — he doesn't exactly trust me right now."

He leaned against the wall. "Sorry to hear that."

She shrugged. "It was inevitable."

"Hey."

They both turned to see Giana, standing in the doorway to her room. She was still in her pajamas.

"Jeremie said we have to get to the factory."

Sissi and William exchanged a passing glance that the brunette couldn't see.

"I told him we needed the day off," the boy said simply.

She furrowed her brow. "Why?"

Sissi casually backed into her room, shutting the door. William pushed off against the wall and straightened up.

"You had a panic attack a few hours ago," he replied, heading back into her room. She followed. "And Ulrich said you've hardly slept all week. Plus, whatever medicine Sissi gave you is still in your system — remember what Odd said about the time he went to Lyoko and laughing gas got into the scanner? It affected him negatively and he was barely able to get Aelita to the tower." He paused. "I don't want to tell you what to do, but…"

She sat on the edge of her bed. "You're right."

"Just… go back to sleep for a little while longer. You'll be more useful if you stay here." He smiled. "Jeremie's probably going to throw a fit, but he can shove his foot up his—"

There was a knock at the door.

"That's probably him," Giana mumbled, burying herself in her blankets.

Lo and behold, he opened the door to find the blonde, dressed and with a coat on, ready to raring to go. He shouldered his way past the older boy and into the girl's room; Vega came up to greet him with some tail wags and lick to the hand.

"Did you not listen to a word I said?" William demanded.

"Let's go," Jeremie pressed, ignoring him and giving the dog a quick pat on the head. He looked to Giana. "Come on! Get up!"

"She's trying to _sleep_ , Jeremie!" William snapped.

Frustrated, he pulled the blonde out into the hall, shut the door, and glared.

"She had a panic attack," he continued, crossing his arms. "Both Giana and Ulrich have barely slept all week. In case you forgot, they suffered injuries on Monday thanks to that bug." He paused, taking a breath. "We need to just _calm down_ , Jeremie. They've been dealing with severe PTSD and no one's so much as paid attention!" He didn't want to admit it at that moment, but his own nightmares had started plaguing him again.

"We've all suffered trauma," the boy reminded him.

William made a noise out of frustration, but then took a moment to collect himself. He really didn't want to start the day off by punching Jeremie in the face. "Listen: I want to continue working on the Replikas as much as you do. Trust me." He rubbed his eyes, irritated from the lack of sleep. "But we need to take our health into consideration." He waited a beat. "Plus, Sissi's grounded."

"It's true," the girl said, poking her head out into the hall. "However, I'm definitely not against sneaking out to join you on a mission."

Jeremie exhaled. "Alright. I guess we can get one team together and do a Replika or two today." He looked to the girl. "If you think you can get away with it—"

"What's going on?" Aelita inquired, stifling a yawn. "I got your message."

Jeremie smiled when he saw her. They kissed. "Do you want to join Sissi, Odd, and I on another Replika mission?"

"I mean, I do have some studying to catch up on," she started, "but I guess it can wait. Just give me a few minutes."

She went back into her room to get ready, Sissi also choosing that opportunity to do the same.

Jeremie turned to William. "Keep an eye out in case there's an activated tower."

He smirked, offering a mock salute. "Aye, aye, Captain."

* * *

A few hours later, Jean-Pierre was coming out of the stairwell at the opposite end of the girls' floor, striding with purpose to his daughter's room.

"Maybe I'll just check on her," he said aloud.

He tried the handle, but it was locked. Jiggling it a bit more, he brought his fist to the door and knocked.

"Sissi, dear," he called. "Are you in there?"

No answer.

Frustrated, he dug a copy of the master key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. He found her room empty: The bed had been made and the shades were open. Her bag, phone, watch, and the shoes and coat she wore the previous night were gone.

He balled his hands into fists. "I should've known."

He turned on his heel, exiting the room and locking the door again. That was when he noticed Giana, coming from the opposite direction, fully dressed and with her dog on its leash.

"Ah, Giana," he said, clasping his hands behind his back. "Tell me — do you know where Sissi is, by any chance?"

"Honestly, Sir," she started, unlocking her door, "I have no idea."

He sighed. "Ah, well… Alright. Carry on."

* * *

"Remind me again where we're going, Franz?" Sissi pressed, her thumb poised over the torpedo button in her Navskid.

"Beijing," he responded, distracted. He typed something into the terminal, bringing up a holographic projection of the Replika they emerged on to: It was the ice sector.

"The ice sector is always way too dark and gloomy," Odd commented, his tail swishing as he stood on-guard.

"I'm going with you to the Replika this time," Sissi demanded, looking to Aelita.

"I'm staying with Odd," the girl said.

"Actually, I'll stay."

They all turned to balk at Jeremie, his nerves causing him to grip the handle of his dagger so tightly, they were sure his knuckles would've been paper-white if they were back on earth.

"You sure about that, Einstein?" Odd questioned.

He nodded.

* * *

The girls landed in Beijing. They took off at a run, accessing a hidden entrance to an underground nightclub.

"As you can see, it's nighttime there," Franz said, sipping from his flask. "This is an exclusive club for millionaires, so it's not open to the public; you can gain access to the supercomputer through their back room. There's a lever behind the closest storage shelf to the right of the door — pull it, and it'll activate a trapdoor with a ladder. That should plant you right in front of the interface."

"This is way too complicated," Sissi groaned, brandishing her staff.

"Nothing in life is easy," they heard Jeremie say over the comms unit.

"How are you guys doing on Lyoko?" Aelita inquired.

"Oh, we're just fine!" Odd shouted, taking out a Megatank with one of his laser arrows. "Except Einstein over here is afraid of the big, bad monsters!"

"Shut _up_ , Odd!" Jeremie whined. "I'm doing the best I can — I already got rid of two Krabs!"

But, Odd looked back, and his friend was no longer there.

"Jeremie?" He turned around in a circle, slowly, surveying the area.

"I'm over here!" he called, standing nearer to the tower. "That was weird — there was an oncoming Tarantula, and I just thought to myself, 'I want to get out of here.' And… I think I teleported!"

"Hey, no fair!" Odd threw his hands up. "How come when you tried to code _my_ teleportation ability, I became a temporary triplet?!"

"You can't exactly create new powers on Lyoko," Franz explained. "They either develop overtime, organically, or you have them from the start. The reason why your power failed was because it's just simply not possible; it might look so on the outside, but the inner workings of Lyoko just don't mesh that way."

"Odd, look out!" Jeremie shouted, running toward him.

The boy turned on his heel, noticing a swarm of Bloks approaching, already firing at them and the Skid.

"Shield!" he commanded. But instead of the usual purple, handheld barrier that appeared in front of him, he was encased in a sort of force field, a semitransparent dome. "What the hell…?"

"Your barrier has lifepoints!" Franz exclaimed. "According to this information, it has five-hundred; it'll last until the lifepoints run out, or for a half hour. It seems you can also disable it manually — just say the word shield again, like a toggle. There's also no cooldown period."

His jaw dropped. "This is amazing," he breathed. "It's like I leveled up!"

"Yeah, that's great," Jeremie cut in, deflecting a Blok's lasers with his dagger. "Can you assist me over here?"

"Right!" He paused. "Shield!" It disintegrated. "Let's show these monsters who's boss!"

* * *

"Okay, we found the lever!" Aelita announced. She and Sissi had made it through the nightclub and were lurking in the storage room. They pulled it, revealing the trapdoor and a ladder that led into darkness.

"Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?" Sissi asked, uneasy.

"Positive," Franz replied. "That will drop you right in front of the supercomputer, like I said. Trust me."

 _I stopped trusting you a long time ago,_ Aelita told herself. She beckoned Sissi to follow as she made her descent.

The room was like something out of a sci-fi movie, even on a similar level with their lab in France and her father's in Switzerland. Monitors lined the walls, and they came face-to-face with a large interface similar to the one at the factory, complete with its own holosphere. Except this model showed the nighttime cityscape of their location, instead of a sector on Lyoko.

"This place gives me the creeps," Sissi said, shuddering. "The faster you can get this done, the better."

Aelita nodded. She took her rightful place at the main terminal, accessing the on-screen installation prompt for the worm. She smirked. "This is too easy."

"Don't get too cocky," her father warned. "Just because you haven't had any trouble thus far, doesn't mean it'll be a piece of cake."

"I think Aelita's right," Jeremie chimed in. He threw his dagger into a Blok's hitpoint, devirtualizing it. "Last night's mission wasn't as difficult as we'd anticipated either. Maybe the virus is working at an advanced rate."

The man leaned back in his chair. "Whatever you say, Jeremie."

"Are they done?" Odd asked. "Are we good to go?"

Franz leaned forward, checking his monitors. "Yes. The installation just finished. I'll transfer all of you to the Skid and you can go on to the next Replika. The coordinates indicate it's located somewhere in Mumbai."

* * *

Ulrich was in the gym, alone, brushing up on his Pencak Silat. He was still running on adrenaline. The dark circles under his eyes spoke volumes.

"I thought I'd find you here."

He finished the move he'd been working on, bowed, and turned to face Yumi.

"You need to sleep," she said gently, closing the gap between them. She took his hands in hers.

He shook his head.

"Ulrich—"

"I'm fine."

She exhaled. "No, you're not." She stalled a moment. "Okay; if you think you're functioning at your best, let's spar."

He cracked a smile. "You're on."

"If I win, you take a nap," she ordered.

"And if you lose?"

"That's not going to happen."

The match had started off great; Ulrich was at his peak, and they were both on an equal playing field. But he was distracted — the memories of Monday came back to haunt him again. He felt himself getting dizzy, losing his guard. Before he knew it, Yumi had pinned him to the floor.

It was like an out-of-body experience. He took a few deep breaths, trying to figure out how he'd gotten there.

She stood, offering a hand to help him up. "Go to bed."

He sighed. "Okay."


	28. Chapter XXVIII

**Note: This chapter contains mild references/spoilers to Backup, a one-shot of mine set in this universe.**

* * *

 **Chapter XXVIII**

* * *

The following week had gone by without so much as a peep from XANA. The group had been working diligently on the Replikas, and had infiltrated about fifteen of them with the meltdown code.

"The precursor event for the _Bal_ went well, I assume?" Pauline asked. "Giana?"

They were in the formal dining room; the night before the _Bal_ had been a whirlwind. The brunette was grateful Principal Delmas had given her a few days off as it was Thanksgiving break in the US.

"Yeah," she responded, cracking a smile. "William's surprisingly good at the waltz."

"That's lovely, darling," her mother, Janine, said. She then addressed the girl and her brother: "Your father and I have something to announce — we wanted to do this when we were all together as a family." She looked to her husband.

"We're moving into that nice brownstone in the Back Bay," Sal finished, beaming. "The one we looked at over the summer."

The kids were nonplussed.

"Why?" Giana asked, taking a sip from her wine glass.

"Because, _bella mia_ ," her father started, "with your brother going away to college, and you continuing your education here—"

"Wait." She leaned forward. "My student visa was extended?"

"Did we forget to tell you?" Jean-Luc asked in astonishment. "We got the letter from the consulate last week!" He finished his third glass of whiskey and reached for the bottle to refill it.

"Anyway," Janine continued, "the only reason we stayed in Cambridge so long was because of Buckingham Browne & Nichols. It would've been too long a commute for you kids from the Back Bay — Beacon Street is closer to your father's software company, anyway."

Giana's brother, Nico, leaned back in his chair. "Well, that's fine by me. I'll be at Columbia anyway."

Pauline almost dropped her wine glass. "You got the acceptance letter?!"

"Not yet," he answered. "But, I'm crossing my fingers. The early admission decisions come out on the 12th."

Giana checked her watch — it was getting late, and she had to get back for another Replika mission. "I don't feel so well." She stood. "May I be excused?"

"Of course, dear," Janine said. "We'll send up some tea in a bit."

She gave a polite nod as she left, quietly slipping up the back stairway to her room.

"Hey," William said casually, looking up from his phone. He'd made himself comfortable on the chaise lounge by the window.

She smiled. "I thought you went back to school!"

"I did. I had a quick meal and changed into more comfortable clothes for the mission; Jeremie wanted me to get you, actually." He stood. "Quentin let me in and I told him I wanted to surprise you. Your room's nice, by the way."

He was right: The walls were a tasteful shade of light grey (or "whispering ash", as her grandmother's designer had called it); a queen-sized bed with a dark geometric bedspread and multitude of throw pillows was a focal point, flanked by silver, mirrored side tables. The chaise lounge William had occupied was one of her favorite places to read on a rainy day when she visited in the summer. Photos and canvased pieces of art adorned the walls, and a dog bed for Vega took a spot on the floor near a set of French doors, opening out to a balcony.

He noticed her outfit. "You guys dress for dinner, don't you?"

She nodded as she shut and locked the door and stepped out of her heels, sauntering over to him. "You know," she started, kissing him, "we haven't really been alone in a while."

He smirked. "I think we have time before Jeremie and the others really start to worry."

* * *

Sometime later, Giana leaned over to check her phone. There were two missed calls and at least five text messages from Jeremie, sent to both of them instead of the whole group: He was pissed, and said if they didn't show up soon, they were going to start without them.

She put the device back and got out of bed, ignoring William as he subtly tried to stop her.

"Jeremie's going to kill us," she said, letting out a laugh. She threw his shirt at him. "We have to go."

There was a knock. "Hey, Gia!"

"Damn it!" she whisper-shouted. "It's my brother!"

She put on a robe that hung on the back of the door to the en-suite bathroom, cinching it around her waist.

Nico stood, now wearing a Boston Bruins jersey that she could vaguely see, holding a tray with some teaware on it. He was tall, with the same dark hair and eyes that ran in their family. They actually looked so much alike that they were occasionally mistaken for twins.

"Here," he said, extending it to her. He arched an eyebrow. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she responded, taking the tray and blocking him from entering. "Just tired. You know, after the event and everything. I might take a hot bath." She focused on his shirt. "You're going to be that one American person everyone hates."

"Hey, the last time I got a French hockey jersey, I was eight," he pointed out. "I'll buy a new one tonight before the game." He checked his watch. "I gotta go. My Uber's here."

"Okay, have fun." She shut the door again and locked it.

Setting the tray of hot tea down, she flung her closet doors open and snapped on the light. After a few minutes of rummaging through everything, she changed into jeans and a sweater and ran a comb through her hair. She chose a pair of pink Converse and studied herself in the mirror. "Ready?"

"Mhm," William replied, lacing up his shoes.

They slipped out the back of the estate, grabbing their coats as they went. She decided to leave Vega there, as she'd be coming back later to stay the night. Quentin was already waiting for them with the car.

"Miss De Luca," he greeted, opening the door for them, "I see you've found your boyfriend."

She blushed. Her grandparents' butler took to the driver's seat, starting the car and backing out of the long driveway. "You're still covering for me, right?" she asked. "This group project should only take a few hours."

The man smiled. "Of course, Miss." He paused. "You know, I do love it when you include me in your misadventures." He adjusted his mirror. "Am I taking you back to the academy?"

"Yes, please," William responded. He was in the middle of typing out a response to Jeremie, to keep him at bay until they got to the lab. "Circumstances have made it so that we're in a bit of a hurry."

Quentin knew better than to ask what exactly they were doing, or more importantly, why Giana kept fleeing from family affairs as of late. He'd worked for the Vincents long enough to know that the grandparents had their faults. But something had changed ever since the girl started attending Kadic: It was as though she and her friends were keeping some big secret, always opting to head back to school at the strangest of times.

Still, he kept his mouth shut. That's what he was known for: Being a wallflower. Observing, but not telling. Whatever was going on, he had a feeling that if they were really in any grave danger, he'd have found out by now. There would've been some sort of sign.

"Miss," he started lightly, choosing his words, "have you been sleeping better?"

"Yes," she replied. But he could tell from her tone that she was distracted.

"You could've invited your friends over, Miss," he continued. "I'm sure your family wouldn't have minded."

"I know," she said. "But… it's just easier if we go to them."

They were definitely up to something. He just didn't know what.

* * *

"There you are!" Jeremie said, relieved. "I was starting to worry."

"We got a little tied up," William replied. "But, we're here now. Let's get to it."

They joined the rest of the group. Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, and Sissi were already waiting on Lyoko to save time; they were hiding in a neutral tower. The transfer process for the four remaining warriors went by relatively fast, especially considering Franz was still manning everything remotely.

"These Replika missions are getting tedious," Ulrich said, gripping the controls of his Navskid. "How many more do we have?"

"A lot," Franz said curtly. "This time, you have your choice of Montreal or Tokyo."

They were split up into their usual teams, Aelita piloting one Skid while William had the other. "Tokyo," the boy said.

"Good." Aelita smiled. "This will give me a chance to see where I'm supposed to be from according to what the school thinks."

* * *

 _They were in the park, near the manhole cover. Guns shot off in the distance. The Men in Black had found them at Kadic and immediately commenced a chase._

 _The kids ran, William at the front, ushering everyone down the ladder and into the sewers. A bullet hit him in the shoulder as he started his own descent. He cried out in pain, leaning on Ulrich as they all made their way to the bridge._

" _How the hell did they find us?" Jeremie shouted, reaching down to help Aelita and the others out of the darkness. He'd already been at the factory, relaying some information to Franz._

" _I don't know," Odd replied, visibly shaken. "But William's hurt. Is there an activated tower?"_

 _The boy with the glasses shook his head._

" _We need to go," Yumi said urgently. "We_ all _need to go. We'll hide on Lyoko, see if Franz can materialize us in Switzerland."_

" _They know where the lab is," Aelita pointed out. "It won't work!"_

 _They heard more gunshots. The agents were getting closer._

" _We need to leave NOW!" Yumi ordered. She grabbed Giana and Aelita by the arms, pulling them with her into the factory. Odd helped Ulrich with William, and Jeremie tried to coax Sissi to follow them. The girl was in shock._

" _I can't." She could barely breathe. "I—"_

" _You have to," the boy responded, taking her hand. "Come on, Sissi — we'll be safe on Lyoko. I promise." But he wasn't quite sure how safe._

 _An agent emerged from the sewers. Spotting the kids ahead of him, he radioed to his team: "Targets in motion, heading to the lab. Backup needed on the bridge immediately."_

" _Come on!" Jeremie shouted. "Go, go, go!"_

 _Everyone was waiting in the scanner room. William, Aelita, and Giana were the first to be transferred, thanks to Franz's preparations. Sissi stood still until her turn was up, and she practically threw herself into the cabin, letting out a deep breath as the doors closed. She landed moments later on Lyoko with Jeremie, Ulrich, and the rest of them. Odd and Yumi followed._

" _I was able to virtualize you all right near a neutral tower," they heard Franz say. "It's the only way this materialization process will work — you all need to get in there_ now _."_

 _The complied, rushing, deflecting lasers from oncoming monsters. Someone must've disconnected the scanners in France; the next hit Sissi took to the back hurt so badly, she fell to the desert floor. Yumi stopped and ran back around to help her._

" _Go without me," Sissi breathed, trying to get to her feet._

" _No way in Hell," Yumi replied. She helped the girl into to the tower and they all waited for the process to begin._

" _Stand by," Franz instructed. "Materialization in three… two…"_

* * *

All eight of the Lyoko Warriors awoke in their beds in the middle of the night, shaking and gasping for breath.

"You okay?" Ulrich asked, noticing his roommate's expression probably mirrored his own. He removed his earplugs.

"I…" Odd stalled, trying to calm himself. He reached over to hug Kiwi. "The Men in Black—"

"They were shooting at us," Ulrich finished. He kicked his blankets aside and stood.

"Yeah." Odd settled down. "How did you know?"

"It was my nightmare, too."

His roommate shuddered. "Is that even possible?"

Before the boy had a chance to answer, Jeremie and William came stumbling into their room. Aelita and Sissi followed shortly after, the last one in closing and locking the door.

Ulrich snapped on a desk lamp and made himself comfortable again on his bed.

"The Men in Black—" Aelita sputtered, practically falling to her knees. "They—"

William looked down at his phone. "Giana, too."

"Same with Yumi," Ulrich said, checking his watch. "What the hell is going on around here?!"

"We couldn't have all had the same dream!" Jeremie asserted, pacing. He balled his hands into fists. "It's psychologically impossible!"

"But it _did_ happen," Sissi shot back, sitting on the floor next to Aelita. "And that's what's so terrifying."


	29. Chapter XXIX

**Chapter XXIX**

* * *

Giana studied herself in the mirror: Her ball gown was a midnight blue, not quite navy but not quite as dark that it would be mistaken for black. The bodice had silver beading woven into it, diminishing from the waist down — the garment fanned out into a tulle skirt that touched the floor in such a way it reminded her of feathers, or water, or something so ethereal it was amazing how it could belong to a piece of clothing.

The dress was strapless and elegant, but not too flashy; however, she knew right away that it wouldn't be conducive if they needed to get to the factory. But, she loved it all the same.

A smile spread across her face. She felt confident as she ran a hand down the gauzy fabric making up the skirt. She stepped into a pair of strappy silver heels that were precisely her size.

"Miss?"

She turned around to find two female staff, working the event. They held various pieces of jewelry.

"Which would you prefer?" the taller of them asked.

It's funny," she said, avoiding the question. "Initially, I thought I wasn't made for this… this part of society." She gestured to herself in the mirror. "But now? I think I'm more accepting of it."

* * *

She appeared at the end of the hallway leading to the ballroom. A matching silver clutch had been provided to coordinate with the gown and jewelry, however she'd been instructed to leave it in the room — she was told someone would let her know if her phone rang. Her long, dark hair had been swept into an intricate twist, kept together with glittery, diamond pins. The makeup was subtle: Enough to make it look like she had some on, but not too much that it felt heavy on her face.

William was practically speechless when he saw her. He was flustered, actually, and that _never_ happened — feelings such as those were usually in Jeremie's department.

She continued walking until they were about three feet apart, enough so she could really see him. She smirked. "You look nice, too."

It was true: He'd been given a custom suit, much like how her gown was one-of-a-kind. His suit was black, with a white collared shirt underneath complemented by a blue tie to match her dress.

A man read off the names of the debutantes and their cavaliers as they entered the ballroom. They hadn't caught the first few, but were able to hear bits and pieces as they moved closer to the door.

"Miss Lilian Jane Brooks, of Sydney, Australia, escorted by Mr. Adam Nicholas Gardner, of Sydney, Australia."

Applause sounded as they walked in. The remaining couples moved forward. They had mingled with some of them the previous night, before the dance lessons.

"This is exciting," Giana said. "Right?"

"Right," William nodded, squeezing her hand.

The announcer continued: "Miss Adelaide Miranda Chin, of New York City, New York, United States of America, escorted by The Lord Sebastian Charles Edwards, II, of Edinburgh, Scotland."

"I'm nervous," she continued, this time in English.

He exhaled. "It's just making an entrance, right?"

"Just smile, and move slowly, and look straight ahead," a male staff member advised them in French.

"Miss Giana Élodie De Luca, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, escorted by Mr. William James Dunbar, of London, England."

They stepped out into the ballroom and headed down a grand staircase. She held his arm like the other girls had with their dates, but she was also compensating for her inability to really see where she was going — the constant flash of photographers' cameras didn't help, either. But they smiled and looked straight ahead, just as the coordinator had told them.

* * *

A caterer passed by with a tray of hors d'oeuvres. William took two and handed one to Giana. They'd been talking to her brother.

"Do we have an escape plan if things to awry?" William asked, leading her away and into the crowd.

"Hope and pray," she said cynically, eating the bite-sized appetizer. A staff member took the toothpick from her. "Any idea if they caught that criminal?"

The boy discretely removed his iPhone from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. "The alert to shelter in place hasn't been cleared, so I'd say that's a no." He put his phone back. "You think XANA had anything to do with this?"

"I hope not," she said. "You're starting to sound like Jeremie."

He laughed. "I hope you meant that as a compliment."

"You're lucky you have pockets," she said, changing the subject.

"They're not as functional as they could be."

A couple of teenagers approached them — a girl with blonde hair and green eyes, holding the arm of her date, a boy with dark skin and even darker eyes and hair. The girl wore a deep emerald, strapless gown that fanned out in a puff of tulle, the boy opting for what they referred to as "white tie": A black suit with a white collared shirt underneath, and a white tie to match. They were the ones from Sydney, William recalled, and they introduced themselves in nervous, broken French.

"It's okay," Giana said in English. "We can speak English."

Lilian breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she said with a strong Australian accent. "If it's one thing I was the most worried about, it was not being able to make conversation at this thing." She laughed, letting go of Adam's arm.

William took a sip from his champagne flute. "I can't stop thinking about that dream we all had," he whispered in French.

Giana nodded, averting her gaze to her own champagne.

Nico approached them, addressing his sister: "Dad's looking for you. In case you forgot, they do a father-daughter waltz before you can dance with your boyfriend."

She took his arm and he led her away from the trio.

"William seems nice," he commented.

She smiled. "He is."

"Good. After everything with Xander…" He paused, choosing his words carefully. "Tori told me you called her in the middle of the night last month."

She ignored the bit about their friend. "I told him. About everything."

He stared at her.

"It's like night and day, him and Xander. It's terrible that things happened the way they did, but I'm happy now."

Nico relaxed. "That's all that counts."

* * *

Franz slammed his hand down on the table in front of him.

"Waldo?" Anthea inquired, poking her head into the lab. "What's wrong?"

"That _damn_ serial killer!" He stood, pacing. "The one that escaped — I'm sure you've seen the news reports from France. He stole explosives and—" He sank back into his chair, facing the line of monitors.

Anthea braced herself against a table of equipment. "Is it Aelita?" she demanded. "Is she in danger?"

He was silent.

"Waldo! Are the children in danger?!"

"The whole country is in danger," her husband replied in a low voice. He took a sip from his flask. He stood again, throwing it, listening as it fell to the floor with a clatter.

"What do you—"

He whirled around, focusing on the monitors again. "I have to send this footage to Jeremie. I was able to hack into the security feed at The Peninsula…" He started typing. " _Damn it!_ "

Anthea was getting upset. "What _is it_ , Waldo?! You're not making any sense!"

He sank back down into his chair. "If the kids don't deactivate the tower in time, it's all over."

* * *

"Come on, _answer_!"

To no one's surprise, Jeremie was in the lab. They had just finished installing the worm in a supercomputer on a navy base in Virginia. He'd been keeping a close eye on the news reports concerning the escaped criminal, and in the midst of it all, they came back to earth to find a tower had been activated.

"Call William," Yumi suggested.

"I'm trying, but he's not answering either. He might have his phone on silent."

"Giana might not have her phone _at all_ ," Sissi pointed out, idly flipping through a magazine. "I highly doubt her gown has pockets."

Jeremie whirled around in the chair, giving her a scathing look. "We need reinforcements!" he shouted. "You two can't go back because of the cooldown, and Ulrich and Odd are holding on _by a_ _thread_. The damn superscan is down and we have no idea where the tower is!" He turned back to the computer screen. "Also, Franz isn't helping — there's nothing he can do on his end."

A news reporter announced they had caught the escaped criminal. Jeremie unplugged his headset and turned up the volume so the girls could hear.

"… and if you're just tuning in, we have a report from the authorities that Pierre Bernard, convicted serial killer, has been apprehended here in downtown Paris, near the Arc de Triomphe. As many of you know, the Arc is right around the corner from The Peninsula Paris, where _le Bal des Débutantes_ is taking place at this very moment. The event is invitation-only and attracts high-profile, high society goers from around the world." She turned to a police officer. "Sergeant, can you tell us just how the forces are protecting that venue tonight?"

"Of course," the officer said. He was older, with greying hair and a tired look about him. "We have a heavy security presence stationed in and around the hotel, as well as posts where vehicles are being checked as they enter and exit the property. We felt that the event should still go on, despite Mayor Hidalgo's order to shelter in place — President Macron has also been receiving constant updates as the situation unfolds. We hope those girls and their loved ones, as well as the more high-profile guests, will be able to enjoy their evening without much worry. However, there are multiple evacuation procedures in place…"

Jeremie switched to another news channel.

"The suspect is cooperating with our team," a female officer reported. "However, he's dazed — he claims to have no recollection of the last few hours. We are asking members of the public with any information regarding what happened tonight to please step forward. You will not be prosecuted; this is purely for us to gain answers."

"They still haven't found the explosives?" Yumi asked incredulously.

"No," Jeremie said gravely. A new window popped up from Franz, showing a live security feed of a hallway in the hotel. "But we have."


	30. Chapter XXX

**Chapter XXX**

* * *

It had been a few hours, and Giana's shoes were starting to bother her.

"Miss De Luca?"

A woman appeared next to them, holding the girl's clutch.

"Miss De Luca, your phone is ringing."

"Thank you," she replied, taking the bag. The woman walked away. "It's Jeremie." She answered it while she and William retreated to a more deserted corner of the ballroom. "Hey."

"You have to get out of there, _now_ ," the blonde ordered, staring at some blueprints on the monitor in front of him. "Evacuate the hotel."

"What's going on?"

"Remember the news reports of someone breaking out of prison and stealing a bunch of explosives?"

"William said the alert to shelter in place hasn't cleared yet." All of the color drained from her face as realization hit. "No."

"Yes. They're somewhere in the hotel — I can't pinpoint where, at this moment, but Franz hacked into the security cameras and sent me the footage — he _saw_ this guy place those bombs." He paused. "I have a live news feed open on a monitor here at the lab, and they said they found him not too far from you, actually; he was over by the Arc de Triomphe. But, when the police questioned him, he said he was in a haze, like he didn't remember anything that had happened." He took a moment to breathe. "I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that it's XANA."

 _Of course_. She stayed silent.

"There's one more thing."

"What?"

"Those explosives are laced with an extremely fatal chemical compound. They have the power to wipe out most of the country."

She felt as if she were going to be sick. "How do you know?"

"Franz told me, actually." He paused a beat. "Also, someone from the Armed Forces is on the news now and was able to identify the exact type of explosives that were stolen, and they mentioned the chemicals in the report. They're issuing mandatory evacuations, so security should be there any moment to start getting people out."

She let out a slow breath.

"I can block the surveillance cameras so you and William can pull a fire alarm without being traced — there's one in a hallway near your location — to start the process early," he offered. "But you'll have _minutes_. You need to get ahead of the crowd."

"On it."

She ended the call and practically threw the phone into her bag, snapping it shut. She desperately grabbed William's arm.

"We need to go."

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'll tell you as soon as we're out," she replied. "Help me find my brother."

"Here I am."

She went rigid and whirled around, coming face-to-face with the boy in question.

He took in her body language and his expression darkened. "What the hell is going on?"

"Nico," she started evenly, "do me a favor: Get Mom and Dad, and Mémé and Pépé. You need to leave."

"Gia," Nico said sternly. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me—"

"I can't." She looked up at him, earnestly. "I'm sorry. You just — you have to trust me." She gave him a brief hug, turning back around to take William's arm again. "Find Quentin!" she instructed as they swiftly walked away. "He should be outside with the car!"

The couple rushed out into the hallway, garnering confused looks by both the staff and eventgoers. A few people asked if something was wrong, but they didn't answer — they just brushed past them.

"There's a lever for the fire alarm out here somewhere," she directed. "Find it, and pull it. That'll at least start getting everyone out before security arrives."

William stared at her in bewilderment.

"Jeremie disabled the cameras, so we shouldn't get caught," she continued in a rush. "We have less than thirty seconds until they come back on."

He obeyed, quickly locating a pull for the fire alarm and yanking it. Immediately, the siren started blaring and the bright sensor lights flashed. Meanwhile, Giana took her phone out again, scrolling through her contacts until she found Quentin's number. William opened a door leading to a stairwell and shut it once they were through. They were alone; the alarm and panicked shouting on the other side was muffled.

She pushed the call button. Quentin answered on the second ring.

"Miss De Luca!" he greeted. "Are you enjoying the _Bal_?"

"Quentin," she started, "listen to me: As soon as you see my family, get them in the car and _drive_. Get as far away from Paris as possible. No," she paused. "Get out of France. See if you can get a ferry to Dover. Worst case scenario, drive through the Chunnel."

"Miss," he started, lowering his voice, "is everything alright?"

She could hear mass confusion in the background, both on his end and hers. People were already starting to leave.

"I'm waiting right here for you and Mr. Dunbar," he said firmly.

"Don't — that's an order. William's getting us an Uber." She glanced over at him and noticed he was already concentrating on his phone as they walked swiftly down the stairs. "We'll meet up with you later," she lied.

William expression changed from one of seriousness to puzzled as his finger hovered over the destination field. She mouthed "factory," and he hit the address for Kadic.

"Of course, Miss," Quentin replied, though he didn't like it. "Please, do be careful."

"Thank you, Quentin." She took a deep breath. "You, too."

She ended the call and put her phone back in the clutch.

"There's a driver waiting for us," William said. "I was able to message her and ask if she could try and idle around the side of the building."

Giana grabbed hold of her dress with one hand, continuing to grip on to his arm with the other, all while they continued to rush down the stairs. Somehow, she managed to balance her clutch without dropping it.

" _Damn it_." She gritted her teeth as she tripped in her heels. "I shouldn't have let my grandmother convince me to do this without my cane."

"We're almost out," he assured, righting her. "I see another exit sign."

He pushed the heavy door open with his shoulder and they were blasted with a gust of chilly, late-November air. Giana shivered. William took off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders before they continued down four more steps and were finally out at the side of the hotel. Their breath made little clouds due to the temperature.

"Thanks," she said, pulling the garment tighter. "Where's the Uber?"

William scanned the side lot, spotting a blue Volvo with its lights on. He stole a fleeting glance at the app on his phone to confirm it was their driver. "Over there," he said, pointing. He grabbed her hand and ran.

He opened the passenger-side door for her and they quickly shuffled into the back seat of the car. A young woman with fiery red hair sat at the wheel. The app told them her name was Paige.

"Good evening," she greeted in broken French. "How are you?"

"We speak English," William told her.

Paige let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God," she said, this time in a natural British accent. "You have no idea how many people in this city don't know a lick of English."

She did a U-turn and took them out of the parking lot, away from The Peninsula. An officer stopped them at a checkpoint.

"Sorry, ma'am," he said. "I realize you've already been checked as you were entering the grounds; however, in light of the situation, we're going to have to look in the trunk of your vehicle again."

"Of course," the woman said, setting the car to idle. She pressed a button on the dashboard to pop the trunk as the officer went around back.

A female officer shined a flashlight through the window and into the back seat, illuminating the couple's faces. Giana grimaced, closing her eyes and turning away from the offending brightness. The officer smiled at them kindly.

"All set, ma'am," the male officer said, closing the trunk. "Drive safely."

"Thank you." She stepped on the gas to continue forward. The trio were quiet for a moment, until she figured it was a good time to strike up conversation. "You two are leaving the _Bal_ , correct?" She kept a steady grip on the wheel as they merged out into a crowded Paris street.

William looked out the window as they circled around to pass by the Arc. Red and blue lights flashed everywhere and the place was strewn with yellow caution tape and evidence markers, as the police presence was the heaviest he'd ever seen. At that moment, all of their devices went off with an emergency alert: The order to shelter in place had been lifted, in favor of issuing mandatory evacuations.

"We were at the _Bal_ , yes," Giana replied. "But we decided to go back to school early. It's been a long night."

Paige checked the car's built-in GPS. "Ah, that explains why I'm driving out to Boulogne-Billancourt. Do you go to Kadic Academy?"

"Yeah," William answered incredulously. "How did you know?"

"Just a guess," she said, smiling. "My niece went there; just finished last year, actually."

He smiled back, while Giana let out a slow breath. Her phone rang, the VoiceOver software announcing a call from her mother. She pressed the lock button once to silence it, and a second time to send it to voicemail.

 _I'm going to regret that later,_ she told herself.

"You alright, love?" Paige asked.

She simply nodded in response. William reached over and squeezed her hand. "We did the right thing," he whispered in French.

"They're doing evacuations," she replied, also in French. "I know there's still a heavy police presence at the Arc and security is all around the hotel, but just I hope—"

Right at that moment, another fleet of squad cars sped past them. They were headed in the opposite direction, straight for The Peninsula. She let out another breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding.

"It's like we're in a warzone," Paige commented. They both mumbled in agreement.

"Can you tell me what's going on, now?" William pressed, still speaking in French, keeping his voice low.

"According to Jeremie, XANA possessed that guy who broke out of prison and stole the explosives. He and Franz actually saw them being planted somewhere in the hotel through the security feed."

"And they told us to get ourselves and everyone else the hell out of there."

She nodded. "Yeah. But the explosives are also laced with some radioactive chemical, which was why I told Quentin to get out of the country. Jeremie said he found out from Franz, and someone from the Armed Forces came on the news to confirm it."

William slumped back against the seat. "Shit."

Giana looked out the window at the multitude of cars and buildings and lights, just speeding past as they drove through the city. She checked her phone again. "We're running out of time. With the traffic and the security check, we should've been there fifteen minutes ago."

"We're going straight to the factory, right? You don't want to stop and change?"

She shook her head. "Did you hear what I just said?"

He was silent. She took her Apple Watch out of her bag and struggled to clasp it, her hand shaking as she tried to hold the device in place over her left wrist. He reached over and gingerly buckled the leather band.

"You two are quite the couple," Paige mused.

They blushed.

"And to think my grandmother was this close to having me attend the _Bal_ with the Prince of Monaco," Giana said dryly. Her phone rang a second time, announcing another call from her mother, which she promptly declined.

"How did you convince her?" William asked. "I never got the whole story."

"My grandfather did, actually." She smiled. "He said, 'Pauline, let the girl do what she wants. It's the twenty-first century.' And, some other stuff about having a good head on my shoulders." She spoke in a much lower tone to mimic her grandfather. "And my grandmother told him, 'Jean-Luc, think of the _opportunity_! Think of how well she'll be _taken care of_!'" She mocked her grandmother by continuing in a higher, nasally pitch.

William chuckled to himself.

Folding her arms, she scoffed. " _Taken care of_. I'm sixteen and I go to school an ocean away from my parents. I'm independent. I hate it when people think I have to be _taken care of_. All because of my vision. I'm not made of delicate crystal or anything."

"You're visually impaired?"

Giana hadn't realized she'd been ranting in English, and was caught off-guard by Paige's question. "Yes."

They were silent. Her phone rang a third time, and instead the VoiceOver software announced it was a call from her father. She answered and spoke in Italian.

"Hi, Dad. … I'm fine. We were able to get an Uber. … We're headed back to school." She made a face, and William could distinctly hear a man shouting on the other end. "Don't, we're fine! It's not worth it! … No, I _don't_ know what's going on! Nico's crazy! Where are you?" Her phone beeped. "Okay. I have another call. … Yes, I will. … I love you, too. Bye."

William eyed her quizzically, as neither he nor Paige understood her side of the conversation. However, he could tell from her tone of voice that it couldn't have gone well.

He made a mental note to pay more attention in Mr. Caggia's Italian classes.

She switched over to the other line. "Jeremie?" She spoke in French. "We're almost at Kadic, we had to get an Uber. Can you tell me what's going on at The Peninsula? … Damn it! Well, tell them we'll be there soon! … Are you _kidding me_? … Alright, good. Bye." She hung up and let out an agitated sigh. "'Go to Kadic', my mother said. 'It'll be a great opportunity, it's a wonderful school, I loved it!'" She put her phone back into her bag and snapped it shut. "I didn't sign up for this."

"What did you dad say?" William asked in French.

"He wanted us to go back to freaking Neuilly-sur-Seine, to my grandparents'. Like, he was actually ready to send Quentin out to Kadic to get us, but they were already in gridlocked traffic to Calais by that point. I told him it wouldn't have been worth it and that I'd just let them know when we got back to school." She paused. "He also said Nico told them how suspicious we were acting and that he thinks we know what's going on."

"Well… did you lie and tell him we don't?"

She nodded.

"Why did they want us to go back to your grandparents'?"

"I don't know. I think he was just panicking." She sighed. "It doesn't matter, anyway: Jeremie's doing a return trip as soon as they find the activated tower. The superscan's down or something, but he did say the situation at the hotel has escalated. We don't have that much time."

"What's the radius?"

"France could be wiped off the map."

William went rigid. "Are we almost there?" he asked Paige politely, in English.

"Yes, I can almost see the gate," she replied, giving them a wry smile. "Are you two in a hurry?"

"I have a major headache," Giana told her. And it wasn't a lie.

* * *

They were let off by the gates, and William was sure to give Paige a five-star rating and generous tip through the app.

"We'll cut through the boiler room," he said, taking Giana's hand.

They snuck through the empty grounds to the gym, quietly making their way down into the basement. William flung open the door to the boiler room, and, still holding her hand, opened the other door to the tunnel.

She stopped in her tracks. "I should've changed into sneakers."

"Come on."

Hurrying, they made their way through the passage, Giana's heels click-clacking as she tried not to trip again. She held her dress and clutch tightly and was grateful for William offering the suit jacket, the temperature underground a solid match for the chilly outside air.

"I brought my longboard down here the other night," he said. They'd exited the tunnel and were now in the sewers. He placed his skateboard on the ground and gestured to it. "Your chariot, _Mademoiselle_."

Giana wrapped her arms around his torso, standing close behind him. "Let's go."

William pushed off with his foot, gliding down the path in the sewers with little effort. They made it to the bridge in record time. Once they got to the factory, they ran down the stairs, and literally slid into the elevator. He slammed the red button to take them down to the lab.

They were silent at first as they made their descent. She adjusted her dress and William cleared his throat. She took his suit jacket off and handed it to him.

"Thanks again," she said.

He smiled, putting it back on. "Don't mention it."

The secure mechanism opened, and they were greeted to three jaws dropping as they walked across the threshold and into the lab. Jeremie's face was still glued to the monitors.

"Oh, you look stunning!" Sissi exclaimed.

Giana smiled. "Thank you."

"What's the status?" William asked, turning to Jeremie.

"Not good," he replied, holding his head in his hands. "We got back from a Replika mission before the tower was activated." He gestured around the room to their friends, all in various states of distress. "Aelita's lost a lot of life points, so she's hiding while Odd tries to clear a path to the tower. But he's not faring well, either — you both need to get ready for the plunge. You have less than an hour; the explosives are due to set off at midnight."

Giana took out her phone and sent a quick message to her brother, so he could let their parents know she was back at school. She put it back in her clutch and threw the bag into the room. Ulrich caught it. "If my parents want to know anything else, just tell them I have a migraine and I'm going to bed."

He passed the bag off to Yumi, who nodded. "Of course."

The brunette turned to Jeremie. "You know," she started, "the police didn't do a very good job considering _France's_ _most wanted criminal_ was able to get into and out of the hotel, undetected!"

"Go help Aelita!" he commanded.

Wordlessly, the couple did an about-face as the secure mechanism opened. They stepped back into the elevator, and William pressed the button to take them down to the scanners.

"See you on the other side," he said, just as the door closed.


	31. Chapter XXXI

**Chapter XXXI**

* * *

"You can't stop the timer remotely?" William asked, slicing through a Tarantula.

"No," Jeremie replied. "But Franz did send a string of code that could _theoretically_ cancel out the detonation sequence; however, someone would have to hardwire a drive with the data directly to the explosives. It's incredibly risky."

A Megatank opened, its beam devirtualizing the older boy immediately. Ignoring the wave of nausea and weakness as the scanner opened, William trudged to the elevator and smacked his hand against the button to take him up to the lab. "I can't just create a short circuit?"

The blonde shook his head. "It's more complicated than that."

"Give me the data."

"You're asking for a suicide mission!" Yumi shouted.

"I'm the only one who can do it," William countered. "Besides Jeremie and Aelita, I'm the only one with the technological capabilities to stop this thing."

"It might not even work!" Jeremie protested. "I said it was a _theory_ —"

"A theory that could save the country! I'm doing it." He stared the boy down. "Aelita still hasn't gotten to the tower. I can get an Uber back to the hotel and dismantle it before the timer expires. Do you know exactly where they were placed?"

"They're on the top floor in the south hallway," Franz cut in, his face appearing on-screen. "There's an elevator that lets out not too far from there."

"Alright." He swiped the hard drive and turned to leave.

It was then that Ulrich jumped the boy and tackled him, the duo falling to the cold, metal floor.

William was still clutching the drive. "What the _f_ —"

"How the hell do you think Giana will feel when she finds out you went off on a mission that could damn right get you killed?" he seethed. "You're being an idiot!"

He threw the younger boy off him, standing up and straightening out the wrinkles in his suit. "This is something I have to _do_ , Ulrich! Do you want the entire damn country to be obliterated?!"

Jeremie rubbed the back of his neck. "I've, uh, set it up so that it can recognize an iPhone to use as an interface," he said. "Since yours is linked to the supercomputer, it shouldn't be too hard. We can monitor everything remotely on our end, but you'll have to connect the drive at exactly the right moment."

"Got it." William ran to the elevator, hitting the red button as soon as he was inside. "I'll be back."

* * *

"I see the tower!" Aelita said, pointing straight ahead.

"Great!" Giana said, throwing her staff in its most compact form at a Hornet. "Hurry!" The Hornet exploded, and the staff landed back in her hand. She sheathed it and turned, coming face-to-face with a Tarantula. "Damn it."

It fired four lasers in succession, devirtualizing her immediately.

She staggered out of the scanner, tripping in her heels. "Jeremie?" she called. "Did she deactivate it?"

"It's bugged," she heard him say through the surround. She stepped into the elevator and came out into the lab. "She's inside and can enter the LYOKO code, but it's not working — something's wrong with the interface."

She checked her smart watch. "Can you fix it?"

"It'll take time."

"Where's William?"

They all stared at her in silence.

"He went back to The Peninsula," Odd said, his voice small.

Her face fell. "Why?"

"Jeremie said there's a possible way to stop the detonators, but only if someone's there to put in a string of code," Yumi explained, handing the girl her clutch.

"Will it work?"

"It's not guaranteed," Ulrich replied, balling his hands into fists. "I tried to stop him."

Giana did an about-face. "Well, now it's my turn."

"You can't do that!" Jeremie shouted.

"Oh yeah?" The elevator doors opened. "Watch me."

* * *

She made it back to her room in less than ten minutes, grabbing her backup cane. She thought Vega was still at her grandparents' estate, until she received a photo from Nico of the dog, staring into his phone's camera.

Once outside, she hailed an Uber. The car pulled up to the school's gates about five minutes later, the driver's side window rolling down as it came to a stop.

"Jump in, love!"

"Paige?" the brunette asked incredulously. She went around the passenger side, opening the front door. Once she was settled, the Volvo took off toward the city.

"The one and only." She beamed, but paused, arching an eyebrow. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"He went back to The Peninsula."

Her expression darkened. "Why?"

"It's a long story." That was an understatement.

"I can't take you directly there, I hope you know," Paige said. "They've evacuated the whole area. I can drop you off close by, but the only vehicles allowed near the hotel are for first responders and the bomb squad."

"I understand."

They were silent as they made the quick drive into Paris. The streets heading into the city were long deserted, whereas going out, everything was jammed. Paige managed to find an English-speaking radio station that was giving constant updates on the situation.

"I still don't know why you're doing this," she continued.

William's words echoed in Giana's mind, that night when she'd first _really_ kissed him on the bridge, when they'd told each other their life stories: _I do stupid things when I like someone_.

She didn't answer, instead focusing her attention out the window.

The car stopped down the street from the hotel, outside a restaurant called Le Brassac. The sign still said they were open, and the lights had been left on, but the inside was deserted.

"Thank you," Giana said, getting out of the car. She gave Paige a tremendous rating and tip in the app. "Stay safe."

She gave her a sad smile. "You, too."

The car sped off, turning around onto one of the gridlocked streets heading out of Paris. Giana started to run as fast as she could manage to the hotel, holding on to the grip of her cane so hard that her knuckles turned white.

* * *

William scrambled out of the elevator on the top floor, having so far evaded the teeming security below. They had bomb squad agents on every level, but no one had gotten to him yet.

"Okay," he said to himself, taking out his phone and the hard drive. "Let's see what we got."

Spotting the pile of explosives, he tried to make heads or tails of where exactly to plug the thing in. Gritting his teeth, he knelt down, taking care not to touch anything.

"Damn it, Jeremie," he muttered. "This couldn't be any more complicated."

* * *

"Miss!"

A guard tried to stop Giana as she shot out from around a corner, heading straight to one of the hotel's side entrances. She was freezing, and could barely see anything.

"Miss! With the stick! Stop right there!"

She disobeyed, shouldering open the heavy door and latching it shut behind her. She was in a stairwell.

"Okay." She looked around, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the light. "If I go out this door straight ahead, there should be an elevator that'll take me to the top."

The exterior door flew open, revealing the same male officer from before, as well as two female counterparts.

"Miss," one of the women started. "We are _ordering_ you to leave the premises. No civilians are allowed—"

Giana started rattling off some made-up story about finding her brother in Italian, hoping they would think there was a language barrier to buy her time. She opened the interior door and ran through, all the while searching along the wall for the elevator. As soon as she found it, the girl slammed her hand against the call button. The doors opened instantly, and she stepped inside, jamming her thumb against the button to close the door. She selected the top floor.

She let out a deep breath, leaning against the side wall. "Good. That should keep them busy for a while."

It felt like it took ages to reach her destination. When the doors finally opened, she vaguely spotted William a few feet away, fiddling with something.

"Stop."

She took a step out into the hall, the elevator closing behind her.

He spun around, his jaw dropping. She took another step closer.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded in English.

He straightened up. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Aelita's trying to deactivate the tower," she said. "You don't have to do this."

"Like hell I don't." He turned back to his work, staring at his phone again as he paired it with the drive. He knelt back down, trying once more to connect to the explosives. "Jeremie said there's a string of code that has to be input at the exact moment, and it's on this device."

"So I've heard."

The elevator doors opened again, revealing the same officers that had tried to hinder Giana's entrance into the building. They were joined by at least five members of the bomb squad.

"William," she tried again. "Let's _go_!"

"I'm trying to save us!"

The police grabbed her by the arms, holding her back, while members of the bomb squad advanced on the pile of explosives. Two of them tried to capture William and drag him away. He stood up and landed a swift kick to one of their stomachs, knocking them back.

"You're going to get yourself killed!" she continued, writhing under the grip of the officers. "I can't go through that again!"

He almost dropped his guard as another member of the bomb squad advanced on him. "This isn't like Xander," he said in a low voice. "At least I'm trying to do something good."

She managed to wiggle free from the officers' hold and dropped her cane, landing an uppercut to one of the men's jaws. The other advanced on her, trying to grab her again. She ducked and dodged the attempt, instead kicking the officer in the stomach, and was satisfied when he fell back from the impact with her heel.

A third officer ran at her, almost tripping over her cane in the process, but managed to shoulder her up against the far wall. Suddenly, images flashed before her eyes: Xander's specter, holding her against the wall in the factory, in the scanner room, in the lab, a bright ball of electricity visible in his hand. The real Xander, back before Brienne's party, cornering her in a deserted hallway at their old school, after hours, threatening her because he'd seen her with another boy ("We were rehearsing for _Aladdin_ ," she'd explained, but of course he didn't believe her, and gave her a black eye to boot). Xander, following her home from school to the point where she couldn't leave alone, always having to stick around and wait for Nico to finish hockey practice, or have Tori and Rachel go with her when the three of them were done with fencing. Xander, shoving her down the steps outside Brienne's. Brandishing a knife in her face when she'd broken up with him, only to be intercepted by Jack.

She was getting dizzy — she couldn't breathe.

"Miss?" The officer backed off, suddenly aware that she was just a teenager, hardly a threat. "Miss — are you alright?"

It took her a moment to remember where she was, and what exactly was going on. "I just—" she choked out, refocusing her attention on William, "I don't want to lose you, too. I… I love you."

William grabbed a member of the bomb squad by the arm, bringing his hand down in such a way so as to render the man unconscious. It had something to do with a nerve — he'd learned it from Jim once. He turned to his girlfriend. "I love you, too."

The countdown timer on the explosives started beeping rapidly. He tried again in vain to connect the drive.

"Come _on_ ," he breathed. The timer was down to five seconds, and he watched through blurry vision as it reached one, then zero.

But there wasn't an explosion.

He practically collapsed as he pocketed the drive and his phone, letting out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "The tower must've been deactivated."

But the moment was short-lived. The authorities were advancing on them once more. He grabbed Giana's hand and slammed the elevator call button, shoving her inside sans cane, joining her half a second later. He jammed his thumb into the button to close the door about five times just as the officers tried to elbow their way in. He fought back, as the sensors wouldn't let the doors close, and kneed the officer at the head of the group in the groin, the impact and his stumble causing them all to fall in a pile on the floor. The doors closed.

Once they were clear, he pressed the icon for the lobby. Turning on his heel, he faced his girlfriend, her whole body shaking, her hands clenched into fists. It was then he realized she was still in her dress and heels, somehow with her hair still intact. She fell into him, crushing him in an embrace.

"You almost got us all killed," she said, her voice breaking. "You're so _stupid_!" She hit him with her clutch.

He shushed her, ignoring the blow to his arm — her bag was surprisingly heavy for how small it was. "Jeremie will do a return trip, just like you said," he whispered. They were still speaking to each other in English. "Everything is going to be fine."

The doors opened out into the lobby, revealing an army of police and bomb squad officers. They all had their hands on their weapons.

"Who are you?" one of them demanded. "State your names!"

"G-Giana Élodie De Luca," the girl stammered, trying to compose herself. "I'm sixteen, I'm a US citizen. I-I'm here on a student visa." She dug through her clutch, producing an ID.

"William James Dunbar," the boy responded coolly. "Seventeen. I'm a dual citizen of England and France." He took a bold step forward, shoving his ID in one of their faces.

Before the officers had time to retaliate, the beacon of white light swallowed them whole as the return trip was launched. The couple let out identical sighs of relief as they went back in time.

* * *

"Ah, Giana!"

The girl's eyes widened as she found herself standing in the ballroom, holding on to William's arm, her grandmother striding toward them.

"We were only brought back a few hours," she muttered.

William nodded, checking his smart watch. "This is after the waltz." His phone vibrated in his pocket; he answered it immediately. "Jeremie?"

"Mémé," Giana started, "a moment, please." She walked away with William, leaving her grandmother standing there, eyes narrowed.

"We're good," he said to the boy on the other line. "How are things on your end? … Oh. … Good! … Yeah. Bye." He ended the call, stuffing the phone back inside his suit jacket.

"What'd he say?" Giana asked.

"We did it. They haven't caught him yet, but at least we prevented XANA from carrying out the attack." He smiled. "I guess we can just kick back, relax, and enjoy the _Bal_ , huh?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I can't _believe_ you'd try something that reckless!" She paused. "Wait. That means he wasn't possessed the entire time?"

"XANA only had him steal the chemical compound and target the hotel." He let out a breath. "And, I seriously thought I was going to make it."

"You were playing the martyr. You know as well as anyone that if you die before a return trip, you _don't come back_."

Before he could respond, he was cut off by Pauline approaching them again, having worn out her patience. She looked between them. "Where's Nico?"

The girl visibly relaxed. "I don't know."

"Last I saw, he was chatting up a caterer," William offered. He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sure he's around here somewhere."

The woman frowned. "I will not have him seducing the help!" she snapped. "I've found a very nice young lady I'd like him to meet." She started walking away, her heels click-clacking against the floor. "If you see your brother, tell him to find me."

"She never stops," William said once Pauline was out of earshot. He cracked a wry smile.

"Try growing up with it," Giana deadpanned.

* * *

"That was too close for comfort," Aelita said. She and Jeremie sat in the corner of a small café, mostly deserted save for a group of older women at the other end of the room. She was exhausted.

The boy stirred his coffee. She had coerced him into ordering a decaf this time. "I know."

"William was too reckless."

He nodded. "Not unlike his first trip to Lyoko."

She shuddered. "Don't remind me." She paused, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "This attack kind of reminded me of two years ago, when XANA possessed that other criminal to steal the uranium for the supercomputer battery."

Jeremie perked up. "You're right! It kept dying, and you were in the hospital with heart failure."

She leaned back in the armchair, placing the half-full mug on the coffee table between them. "I'm tired of fighting, Jeremie."

He stared down into his drink. "I am too, Aelita. We all are."

They waited a beat.

"You heard what my father said?" she inquired. "About the new bug in the materialization program?"

He was silent, stealing a glance outside. The sky was pitch dark, the city lights shining bright in contrast. People were still out and about, blissfully unaware of the dangers they'd just lived through. "No one was hurt tonight when they were devirtualized." He reached for his phone. "But I wonder…"

" _No_ ," she said firmly, stopping him. "We'll tell them tomorrow."

* * *

Someone was banging on the door to Giana's suite. It was almost one in the morning; the _Bal_ had ended a while ago. She and William had spent some time with Adam and Lilian before excusing themselves to go back to their rooms.

She groaned as whoever it was grew relentless. She stepped out of the bath, toweling off and draining the water; it had gone tepid, anyway. Checking the timer for her face mask, she still had about five minutes left. She slipped into the hotel's white robe and slippers, stretching and shuffling into the other room.

"Who is it?" she asked in French.

"It's me," William answered in English, muffled. She opened the door and stepped aside; he breezed into the room, grabbing the remote from the coffee table and turning on the TV. He wore a grey T-shirt and navy blue, plaid pajama bottoms.

"What's going on?" she inquired, crossing her arms. She shut the door, replacing the deadbolt.

He flipped to a news channel. "You need to see this."

"… If you're just joining us, authorities have told us of the reports that led to the capture of Pierre Bernard, convicted serial killer," the anchorman said. "Here is a member of the Armed Forces now."

They cut to a woman in military fatigues, standing with the Arc in the background. "That's right," she confirmed. "Earlier this evening, we received an anonymous tip stating the exact whereabouts of Mr. Bernard. Our team was swift to act, catching him with the stolen explosives in-hand before he was able to inflict any harm. We have reason to believe he may have been targeting this year's _Bal des Débutantes_."

"My god." Giana sank down into an armchair. "Was it Jeremie?"

"He and Franz figured it was the only way for it to end without casualties." William stretched out on the sofa. "It was a genius move — like I said earlier, the guy would've planted those explosives somewhere regardless of being under XANA's possession."

"Whoever you are, we thank you," the member of the Armed Forces continued. "You're being hailed as a hero."

The girl jumped as the timer on her watch went off. She escaped to the bathroom to wash the mask off her face and brush her teeth, slipping into her own pajamas: A blue Boston Strong T-shirt and a pair of black bottoms with polar bears on them.

William sat up and shut the TV as she reentered the room. "Look," he said. "I know what I did was hasty, and impulsive. I wasn't in the right frame of mind — I jumped in and didn't stop to think about the consequences."

"I get it," she replied. "You wanted to save France. It was noble, I guess, but still; Aelita would've deactivated the tower in time."

"And what if she hadn't?" He grabbed her hands. "We've had too many close calls recently. I don't know how much longer we can rely on making it out in time."

She broke away, walking into the bedroom; she started pacing. He followed. "We don't have any other choice." She undid her messy bun, running her hands through her hair. "Unless we want to get ourselves killed, we have to play it safe. The return trips don't bring people back from the dead!"

"How do you think that was discovered?" He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Did you ever stop and wonder?"

She got under the blankets and shut one of the lights off, darkening the room save for the moonlight creeping through the curtains. "Apparently Franz had an incident, but he won't tell anyone. Jeremie said it's not in the diary, but the man _knows_."

"Oh."

"I meant what I said." She yawned. "That I love you."

"I know." He relaxed. "I love you, too."

"You can stay. If you want."

He did. It wasn't long before she heard him snoring.


	32. Chapter XXXII

**Chapter XXXII**

* * *

"William."

It was XANA. It was _always_ XANA. The boy was so deep into his nightmare that he thought the voice he heard was the AI. He was possessed again, hurting his friends, causing more destruction in his wake. He was still living through that terrible, out-of-body experience.

" _William."_

He could feel the evil seeping into his mind, his body forced to do things against his will, to hurt the people he loved, his friends, innocent bystanders. Any attempt to claw his way back up from that was futile. He just wanted to be _himself_.

"William, _wake up_!"

He gritted his teeth, trying to fight through that familiar, constricted feeling of being under XANA's control. Smokey, black tendrils wound their way around him like a strait jacket, crushing him, causing him to suffocate. He lashed out, balling his hands into fists, and landed a punch…

His eyes snapped open. He remembered to start breathing again.

Sitting up in a rush, he saw Giana in the dim light of early morning, holding her arm. Her mouth was set in a straight line.

"I…" He had hit her, half-asleep, in his fit of panic. "I'm so—"

"It's fine," she said, her voice tight. "You were having a nightmare."

"It's _not_." He reached out tentatively to pull her hand away from where he'd punched her, but stopped himself, grabbing a fistful of blanket instead.

"Let's just… go back to sleep," she suggested, resigned, settling down again.

"Giana—"

"William… Not right now." She turned away from him. "I just really want to go back to sleep."

He didn't press the matter. It was almost five in the morning. He stood, needing to take a walk — to do _something_. So he went out into the living room, slipping through a set of French doors leading on to a balcony, and relished in the cold air as he greeted the outside world.

The Eiffel Tower was still lit. If he turned to his left, he could vaguely make out the Arc in the distance, with blue and red lights flashing, police combing the area. They were probably still looking for evidence.

He gripped the wrought iron rail, staring down into the city. Letting out a shaky breath, he watched as it fogged the air around him. All he'd wanted to do was prove to them that he could do _better_ , that what he'd done in the last year — what _XANA_ had done — was in the past. That he had changed.

But he supposed they knew that. Otherwise, why would they have let him back into the group? Why did they treat him like he'd always been one of them?

He let out a loud, strangled scream, holding his head in his hands. None of this was _easy_. Last night they had been up against people with _real guns_ , real _dangers_ , and in the flip of a switch, it was all reversed — for the most part.

But they still had to live with the memories.

It wasn't even five A.M., and he _really_ wanted a drink. He _craved_ a drink. He was at that point again where he just wanted to forget, numb the pain, _do_ _something_ to take his mind off of everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours — in the last _year_ — and never have to think of it again.

His mind drifted to Giana, and the pain he'd just caused her. He wouldn't be surprised if she were afraid of him. He couldn't blame her.

The thought of that hurt more than if she'd been angry.

Shaking his head, he stared back out at the view on the horizon. The sun would be up soon, and he'd have to put on a brave face, go through the motions once more. Glancing down at his hands, he could've sworn he'd seen something — maybe it was just a trick of the light, but for the faintest second, he thought they had turned to smoke.

* * *

They awoke about three hours later to someone banging incessantly on the door.

"It's my brother," the girl mumbled, getting up. "We're supposed to spend the day together." She stuffed her feet into the slippers and put the robe on over her pajamas. William groaned, burying himself further in the cocoon of blankets and pillows.

She opened the door to be greeted by Nico, who shouldered past her and into the room. He dropped his backpack on the floor by the sofa. They hugged.

"What, no breakfast?" he asked in English, picking up the room service menu. He sat down in an armchair.

"Nice to see you, too," she said dryly, checking her watch. "It's like eight A.M., why the hell are you here?"

"I'm still on Boston time." He picked up the cordless phone and dialed the number to order food.

"It's two in the morning back home!"

He ignored her, speaking to whoever was on the other end in rapid French, placing a breakfast order. Hanging up, he fished a couple euro out of his wallet.

William wandered into the room, taking his place next to Giana, but far enough away so they were at a comfortable distance. He still wanted to talk about what had happened, but there was little he could say with her brother present.

Nico looked up and started laughing when he noticed them. "You know," he said, "I originally didn't want to come on this trip _at all_. Jay and Ross were _this close_ to getting us tickets to an advanced screening of the new _Star Wars_ movie. Plus, Mom and Dad would be fussing over you the whole time, and you know how weird Mémé is — did you know she tried to set me up with a member of some royal family last night? The girl barely spoke _French_ , let alone English or Italian! I thought this was _Europe_ , where everyone knows at least two languages!" He paused, trying to compose himself. "But _this_ " — he gestured with both hands to them: Giana buried her head in a toss pillow while William rubbed sleep from his eyes — " _this_ made everything a thousand times better."

"Don't tell Mom and Dad," she warned.

"I wouldn't dream of it." There was a knock at the door, and he got up to answer. A woman walked in with their food — the trio thanked her in French and Nico gave her the tip. He reclaimed his spot and opened a cloche to reveal one of three plates full to the brim. "Like I said last night, I'm happy for you. After all the bullshit Xander put you through, Gia, you deserve to be treated like a queen." He started eating.

"He's right," William said. It was the first he'd really spoken. He cut into a piece of French toast, trying to make light of the situation. "So, what do you have planned for the day?"

"For some bizarre reason," she started, sipping a glass of orange juice, "Nico wants to see Kadic. Meet everyone. We're having a family dinner here in the city tonight, but other than that, nothing's concrete."

"Oh, Vega's fine by the way," her brother said. "I'm glad you let her stay with us at the house last night — I missed her."

William and Giana's phones and watches went off simultaneously — it was their group message with the others. A text from Jeremie read **EMERGENCY MEETING. FACTORY.** A knowing glance passed between the duo, Giana downing the rest of her drink and stuffing a piece of toast in her mouth.

She stood. "Let me get dressed."

William pocketed his room key and grabbed the rest of his food, heading to the door. "Meet you downstairs."

Nico leaned back in the armchair, having finished his breakfast. "I'll call us an Uber Black," he said in Italian, staring at his phone. "Mom and Dad secured Quentin for the day."

"Where'd they go?" she asked from the next room, also in Italian. He heard the sound of running water as she brushed her teeth and washed her face.

"Some vineyard in the countryside," he said lazily. "There's a wine that you can only get there… You know Mom."

She laughed, emerging into the living room with her duffel. "You think Customs will take it away from her?"

"Nah, it's not like it's illegal." He stood, shrugging on his coat and backpack. He watched her loosely wrap a scarf around her neck and put her own coat on. "Here's your cane. I grabbed it from the house."

"Thanks." She unfolded it and shouldered her bag. "Let's go."

* * *

"You're asking me to believe," Nico started, coming up on to the bridge, "that you've been fighting monsters in a virtual world ever since you got here?"

"Yeah," Giana replied, avoiding eye contact. She walked ahead with William into the factory. They'd stopped by the dorms to drop their stuff off and give a quick tour, and then coaxed her brother into the boiler room and through the passage.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" he spat.

She turned on him. "Nico, _not now_. This is serious. Whatever Jeremie has to say is important." She paused. "And you can't say a word about this to _anyone_. Understood?"

He stared her down. "I already covered for you with Xander," he replied in Italian. "I don't know—"

"What do you _mean_ you already covered for me with Xander?"

They had entered the elevator, where William punched in the lab's access code. He couldn't understand a word the siblings were saying, but stiffened at the mention of Giana's ex-boyfriend.

Nico let out a breath. "The night of the Regatta, when you were in the ER?" He paused, averting his gaze. "Tori and James told me everything."

Her expression fell. She leaned back against the wall. "You knew?"

"You had the number for the National Domestic Violence Hotline in a note on your phone!" he shouted.

She lunged forward, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You went through my _stuff_?!"

He pried her hands away, taking a step back and throwing his arms up. "Tori and James gave a _police statement_ because one of the doctors thought it was abuse from Mom and Dad and they called the authorities! You weren't telling me anything — what the hell else was I supposed to do?"

The lab's secure mechanism had opened. William quietly stepped out of the elevator, taking in everyone else's expressions as Giana and Nico followed suit. Jeremie twitched; he looked like he was about to jump out of his skin in anger.

"For _months_ I'd been trying to get up the courage to call that damn number!" she seethed, still speaking Italian. "I was afraid!" She angrily folded her cane and dropped it at her feet, clenching her hands into fists. "And as soon as the incident at Brienne's took place, I broke up with Xander!"

"And I tried to get you to take Ross with you, remember? I didn't want to let on that I knew because I was _this close_ to going to Mom and Dad until you decided to end it with that son of a bitch! Hell, I was ready to go with you myself and beat the—"

"I _did_ tell you, Nico!" she cried. " _And_ Mom and Dad!"

"But it wasn't until _after you broke up with him_!" He stopped and breathed, finally taking in their new surroundings. He said his next words in French: "Where the hell are we?"

"That's not important right now," Jeremie answered evenly. He stood from his place at the monitors and took another sweep around the room. "Has anyone heard from Yumi?"

* * *

"Hiroki, I have to _go_."

Yumi was attempting to get out of the house, her parents having gone out for the day. But her brother was being his usual, painful self.

He blocked the front door. "I saw your phone," he said. "What's going on? What factory?"

She let out an agitated groan. "I can't tell you, not right now. I just need to leave, alright?"

He shook his head. "Okay, but you'll have to do my—"

"Hiroki, _move_!"

Her brother flew out of the way, landing behind her with a _thud_. The hallway light shattered. Kitchen cabinets opened, their contents spilling out in a cluster of noise and chaos.

Stunned, Yumi took that opportunity to make her exit. She grabbed her coat and bag, fumbling with the doorknob at first as she tried to open it. She didn't stop running until she got to the lab.

* * *

"There you are!" Jeremie exclaimed. "What took you so long?"

Yumi dropped her things to the floor. She remembered to start breathing again. "I…"

"No matter," he continued, cutting her off. Franz's face appeared on-screen. "It seems we've run into another bug with the materialization program."

Immediately, Ulrich and Giana's faces turned a ghostly white as they leaned into each other for support. Before either of them could react, Franz intervened:

"It's a different part of the code than last time," he explained in a rush. "My assistants are analyzing it, but whatever the problem is, it doesn't look to be fatal." He paused. "Have any of you been experiencing strange phenomena?"

"Yes."

They all turned to Yumi, the girl having let out a half-whisper.

"It was just now…" She sank to the floor, seeking refuge against the base of the holosphere. "I was leaving my house, and my brother was trying to blackmail me. I was so mad, and in a rush, that I…"

Well, she didn't know _exactly_ what had happened, but she could give an educated guess.

She started over, approaching it differently: "You know how, on Lyoko, I have telekinetic powers?"

She watched with bated breath as everyone else appeared to mirror how she felt. It was then that she noticed Nico.

William cleared his throat. "I saw something, too. This morning. I thought it was just a trick of the light, or exhaustion, but…"

Giana then spoke up. "William. Ulrich." She paused, also sitting down on the floor. "Do what you did when we raced. On Lyoko."

The two boys exchanged a tentative glance.

"Once around the room, or something," she continued, her voice hollow.

It took a moment of hesitation, but there were audible gasps from everyone when William turned to smoke in the floor, and a yellow streak of light emitted from Ulrich's back as he used his super speed.

"Incredible," Franz breathed. They'd almost forgotten he'd been watching.

Nico shook his head in disbelief, separating himself from the group. He backed away until he hit the wall and looked to his sister. "What can you do?"

She stood. Her brother watched open-mouthed as she faded in and out of view, right before his eyes.

He slid down the wall until he reached a sitting position. " _Maronna Mia._ "

"Yumi," Sissi said quietly. "Move your backpack."

The group turned to watch as the bag rose two feet in the air, unaided, and then drifted casually toward Ulrich. He took one of its straps. It was then Yumi had simply stopped focusing on the object, and it fell in the boy's grasp, no longer supported by the both of them.

"Odd," Jeremie sputtered. "That new shield thing you can do—"

But the boy was already way ahead of him, a semiopaque force field encompassing a space around his body.

Giana picked up her folded cane, passing it to her brother. "Throw it at him."

He balked. " _What?_ "

"You heard me."

Letting out a breath, he complied. The object flew straight at Odd with such precision, Nico was sure they'd hear an _oof_ as it hit him in the gut and knocked him back.

But it just bounced off the shield, falling to the floor in a clatter of graphite on metal.

The force field dissipated. Odd took that opportunity to join the rest of the group, and sat down.

"Jeremie," William said. "You're next."

The blonde bit his lip. In the blink of an eye, he was on the other side of the holosphere. After a moment, he teleported back to the chair.

Nico looked to Sissi. "And you?"

She let out a hollow laugh. But no one had noticed Ulrich produce a pocket knife and glide the blade across his palm, a droplet of blood trickling down to the floor.

"Heal me," he instructed.

Sputtering incoherently, she approached him and sandwiched his hand between hers. Closing her eyes and letting out a deep, calm breath, the boy's hand emitted a white light as she used her powers.

It took a moment, but she finally let go. Ulrich examined his palm, half-expecting to see a scar, joining the abundance that already adorned his body. Instead, his eyes widened as he was met with smooth skin. He showed the rest of the room, palm out.

Aelita narrowed her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Odd asked.

"Well," she started, her voice small, "you can all do these amazing things… and where does that leave me?"

A lightbulb went off in Jeremie's head. He plucked the reusable coffee thermos from his bag, handing it to her. "Here."

She cocked her head at first, but then realized what he'd been insinuating. Unscrewing the top and placing the bottle about a foot in front of her on the floor, she focused on its contents: Coffee, of course. Caffeinated, because it was Jeremie. She exhaled through her nose and took half a step back when she saw the ball of liquid rising into the air.

Nico shifted in his position against the wall. "I don't get it."

"I can alter the terrain on Lyoko," the girl clarified, watching with satisfaction as the swirling ball of coffee slowly sank back down into the cup. She capped it. "So that means… I can manipulate the elements."

"Air, too? And fire?"

She shook her head. "No — I think it's just water and earth."

"This is a dream," the boy said in denial. He closed his eyes, resting the back of his head against the wall. "I'm gonna wake up in my room at Mémé and Pépé's and Ingrid will have fresh waffles waiting for me."

"Nico, this isn't a dream."

His eyes opened as he looked to his sister again, her expression stoic.

"This is real."

He took a deep breath. "Do the thing again."

She faded in and out of view once more, rolling her eyes at the request. It took a few minutes before he was able to compose himself.

"What's Lyoko?" he finally asked. "Is it that place you were telling me about?"

Giana cast a gaze in Jeremie's general direction. The blonde cleared his throat while the rest of the kids fidgeted.

"It's a virtual world," they heard Franz explain, ever so casually. "I created it over twenty years ago. It houses monsters that are sent there by XANA, an artificial intelligence that I also created. However, he became sentient, developing a goal to destroy our world."

"So… it's like a video game?" Nico guessed.

"Except it's far more dangerous," Aelita replied. "We're virtualized by way of a scanner, and—" She stopped herself. "Well, it's really very complicated."

"You all just became the freaking X-Men!" the boy exclaimed. "And explaining Lyoko is _complicated_?"

"It's just… it's a lot," Jeremie replied.

"No one would believe him, anyway," Franz pointed out. "If he did say something."

"He's right. You can trust me." Nico paused, checking his watch. "I'm not leaving until very late tonight. I have time." He leaned back against the wall again. "Tell me the story."


	33. Chapter XXXIII

**Chapter XXXIII**

* * *

Avery Paulson was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States. She liked her job. But, it had recently been causing her stress.

She let out a breath, leaning back in the plush chair behind her desk. She turned around to face the panoramic view of Washington, D.C., right outside her window. It was Monday, mid-afternoon; she had just finished lunch with one of her agents. Her right-hand man, Sebastian, approached the entry to her office. He didn't even knock as he set down a stack of files.

 _The_ stack of files.

"Agent Collins," she greeted idly, still staring out at the view. "Did you find them?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, standing at attention. "Straight from the FBI."

"At ease." She turned around to face the folders. Picking up the top one, she thumbed through it. "Give me the rundown."

"Ulrich Stern," he said, gesturing to the file in her hand. "Sixteen. Son of Walter and Isabelle Stern. Parents are located in Munich; the father owns a Fortune 500 business, Stern & Co., specializing in financial planning and logistics. The mother's a doctor at Rechts der Isar Hospital." He paused. "Ulrich's an only child. He's a star player for the Kadic Academy soccer team."

She read through the file in more detail. "There are police reports in here for the father."

"Germany's Protection of Minors division had been called to the residence on behalf of police when the boy was younger. Apparently, the father had been cited for abuse by the son, however nothing was done about it."

Avery frowned. She replaced the photo of Ulrich to the top of his file, paper clipped in with a recent copy of his report card. The picture was one from last year's Kadic yearbook. She moved the folder away from the pile, opening the next one.

"Odd Della Robbia," Sebastian continued, now taking the opportunity to sit in one of the plush leather armchairs facing the Director. "Sixteen. The youngest of six children, and the only boy, his sisters are Pauline, Elisabeth, Marie, Adele, and Louise. His mother, Marguerite, is a film script supervisor, while his father, Robert, is an opera singer. Adele and Pauline, the next-oldest to Odd and identical twins, are international students at Linden Hall School, a private, all-girls, day and boarding school in Pennsylvania — the rest of the sisters are either enrolled in universities or working. The parents live in Québec City. As you can see, Odd is a boarder at Kadic, and is roommates with Ulrich Stern. His grades are terrible, but he seems to do well in art. He has a dog, a bull terrier mix named Kiwi."

Avery examined the photos, showing scans of the boy's artwork and pictures of his dog, a strange little thing, but she supposed he did have some charm in there somewhere. Odd's hair, however, was one of the most outlandish things she'd ever seen.

She moved on to the next folder.

"Yumi Ishiyama," the man said. "Seventeen. Her father, Takeho, is from Tokyo, and her mother, Akiko, is from Hokkaido. Takeho works for Takahashi Industries, a Japanese engineering and analytics firm in Paris; Akiko, on the other hand, is working on a Japanese-to-French language dictionary, as evidenced here." He produced a copy of the file and rifled through it, coming to a stop about a third of the way in. "Miss Ishiyama's younger brother, Hiroki, is thirteen; he skipped a grade and is a day student at Kadic, just like her." He paused. "Miss Ishiyama is also believed to be in a relationship with Ulrich Stern."

Avery moved a lock of hair behind her ear. She placed Yumi's file down on top of Odd and Ulrich's, and moved on to the next one.

"Elisabeth Delmas," her colleague explained. "Sixteen. She's the daughter of Jean-Pierre Delmas and Sophie Bordeaux; her parents are divorced, and it's currently unknown if she has any contact with the mother, who lives in Strasbourg. Jean-Pierre is the headmaster of Kadic. We have strong reasons to believe he has no involvement with Lyoko or XANA, nor is he aware of their existence."

She arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "How so?"

"He can barely run his office computer, for one," the man deadpanned. He cleared his throat. "Elisabeth, or Sissi, as people call her, is one of the newer members of this group of kids. She's been attending Kadic her entire life, and was once on the school's cheerleading squad. She's your typical rich, spoiled girl, who acts like a queen bee but is really sympathetic and a good person on the inside. She had an unrequited crush on Ulrich Stern since they were very young."

"Am I going to find any useful information in these files, Agent Collins?" Avery asked, moving Sissi's folder aside.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, loosening his tie ever so slightly. "The next few are quite interesting."

She opened the next folder, leaning back in her chair.

"William Dunbar." He read along with his own copy. "Seventeen. Parents are James Dunbar and Cécile Renaud-Dunbar. The father owns a law firm, Dunbar, Dean & Associates, while the mother is the Vice President of Tetra Corp., a business specializing in financial services. They live in London."

Avery nodded, taking a sip from her coffee mug.

"The son was kicked out of his previous boarding school, the exclusive Sevenoaks School in Kent, England. Supposedly, he pasted love letters all over the place. His mother was born in France and the son is a dual citizen of France and England, so he was then enrolled at Kadic as a boarder." He paused. "However, we'd noticed something strange with the boy last year: We have reason to believe he was temporarily replaced by a computerized clone."

"Oh?" She leaned forward. "What were your findings?"

"Well, as you know, we've been working with the FBI and French Intelligence and have had teams observing these kids for quite some time. One of the members reported that William suddenly seemed dumber, taking things way too literally, and accidentally led two younger girls to the factory in Boulogne-Billancourt. Thus, the kids launched a return to the past. But we believe he may have been held captive by XANA during that time, as he'd been infected with a virus and was forced to do its bidding."

Avery lowered her gaze to the file.

"He had a crush on Miss Ishiyama for quite some time," Sebastian continued. "However, our team has observed him to be in a current relationship with our next subject."

She opened the next folder, letting out a whistle.

"Giana De Luca, a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts." The man fidgeted. "Sixteen years old. Miss De Luca started Kadic Academy a little late this semester, as she was bringing her guide dog into France with her — she's visually impaired, as you can see — and it required additional paperwork that took longer than anticipated to process. As athletics were a requirement at her previous school, she took part in girls' cross country during the fall, fencing in the winter, and sailing in the spring."

Avery produced a photo of the girl, standing with her brother and the black lab. It had been taken at Walt Disney World, in front of Cinderella Castle, dated February 21st of that year. She noticed the wire frame Minnie Mouse ears with a floral crown headband atop the girl's head, while her brother had on a T-shirt that said Mickey for President, something she had a good laugh at. The dog wore a red and white polka dot bandana. "Who's he?" she asked, pointing to the boy.

"Her older brother, Nico," the agent clarified. "He'll be eighteen in March and is in his final year at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, the private, pre-k to twelve, day school in Cambridge that Miss De Luca also attended. He plays center for their boys' hockey team and is noted for shooting the goal that beat their long-lasting rival, the Belmont Hill School, in the previous season's championship match. He's also a member of the crew and soccer teams, during the spring and fall seasons respectively. We've retrieved copies of his completed applications to Columbia, Brown, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and Boston University, here" —he pointed to the documents— "but we believe he has nothing at all to do with Lyoko."

She wanted to know more, as this girl was a citizen of their country. "What about the parents?" She took another sip of coffee.

"Janine and Salvatore," he replied. "Janine does not work; however, she is very actively involved in volunteer and charity organizations. Salvatore owns the software company CryptoTech, located in Boston's Financial District. It specializes in encryption software that would lock down even the most sensitive documents to the smartest of minds, as well as general computer engineering. They also have a division devoted to assistive technology for people with disabilities." He paused. "The parents are actually moving into a multimillion-dollar home in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood after the first of the year. They have a housekeeper, Sonya Day.

"Miss De Luca's maternal grandparents, Jean-Luc and Pauline Vincent, live in an estate in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France — the grandfather is an eccentric multibillionaire who drinks too much whiskey, and we've heard the girl describe the grandmother as 'overbearing,' however the woman is quite high on the social ladder. They have two staff members: Ingrid Müller, their housekeeper, and Quentin Thomas, their butler. However, neither are believed to know anything regarding Lyoko or XANA." He paused again, eyeing the Director. "Giana and William attended this past weekend's _Bal des Débutantes_ — you know the one. That was where the XANA-possessed criminal placed those explosives."

"Yes, I'm aware," Avery confirmed. "And the paternal grandparents?"

"Paolo and Caterina De Luca, née Conti, live in Milan with an uncle and his family."

"Does the uncle have a wife and kids?"

"Yes," he replied. "His name is Marco, one of Salvatore's younger brothers. Wife is Priscilla, and they have fifteen-year-old twin daughters, Camilla and Lara, as well as a ten-year-old son, Angelo. They typically travel to Cambridge every year for the Christmas holidays." He took a sip from his own coffee mug. "There are more extended family members — Salvatore is one of eight — and Janine has a younger sister named Collette, who our records indicate lives in Luxembourg and is also married with children."

"Thank you, Agent Collins." She opened another file. "Who's next?"

"I've saved one of the most fascinating for last, ma'am." His eyes lit up. "Jeremie Belpois. Sixteen. Son of Michele and Nicole Belpois. The father is a mechanic, and the mother a pastry chef. The son has been seen to exhibit an extraordinary intelligence, as he's almost always the one who mans the supercomputer. He's been offered several scholarships to schools for gifted students in France, though he declined — actually, there was one time when he thought the group didn't need him that he almost took up one of the offers, but that was quickly rescinded. The parents live in Lyon."

"A boy who would rather stay to protect his friends than accept a lifetime opportunity," the woman mused.

"He has a cousin, Patrick," Sebastian continued. "They went to summer camps together when they were younger, and the boy was a prospective Kadic student, however, he decided against it. They seem to have mended their relationship, but Jeremie still isn't very close to him."

She thumbed through report cards and essays of Jeremie's that had been compiled from over the years. After a moment, she put his file aside with the others, focusing on the last one. "This one seems very large, almost in comparison with the Belpois folder."

" _This,_ " Sebastian started, holding up his copy, "is our most challenging subject yet. Her name is Aelita, and she's believed to be sixteen years old."

"Surname?"

"We're, um, not quite sure, ma'am."

"Then by all means," she said, smiling again and making herself comfortable in her chair, "please enlighten me."

"Well, it's a mystery as to who she really is," he explained. "We ran her photo through various facial recognition software programs, and came up with three results: She may be Aelita Stones, Odd Della Robbia's cousin who lives in Montreal, and her parents' names are Douglas and Sandrine." He paused. "However, we've been in close contact with the Canadian Embassy, and they've assured us that no one by those names even resides in their country."

Avery arched an eyebrow. "Go on."

"She could also be Aelita Hopper," he continued, flipping to the designated spot in the file. "A man named Franz Hopper moved to Boulogne-Billancourt and taught science at Kadic Academy before Suzanne Hertz took his place. Aelita was his daughter and she was homeschooled, and Franz dedicated all of his free time to working in the lab, creating Lyoko."

"You're referring to these people in the past tense," the Director pointed out.

"They're presumed dead, ma'am. Police reports from the nineties state that they both vanished without a trace; we've dug deeper into the matter, and it turns out that that terrorist organization, the Men in Black, were possibly responsible for their disappearance — evidently, they'd been hunting Hopper for years, and were finally led to their home near the academy."

"So, one's a dead end, and the other's a girl who doesn't exist," Avery muttered.

"Not quite, ma'am." He directed her to turn to a specific page in the girl's file. "We're almost positive she's Aelita Schaeffer, daughter of Waldo and Anthea Schaeffer, née Hopper."

She practically dropped the folder.

"You see," the man continued, "Franz is Waldo Schaeffer's middle name — I'm sure you're aware of who he is. Anyway, Aelita is registered as living in an apartment in Zürich with her parents while homeschooled, but this girl here is obviously a boarding student at Kadic Academy."

"I'm well aware of that, Agent Collins." She stood, pacing. "So. Waldo Schaeffer moved to France under an assumed name, took his daughter with him, and when they were both caught…"

"They fled to Lyoko, where XANA destroyed the man's virtual signature and threatened the girl," he finished. "Thus, the supercomputer in France was shut down, and it wasn't until Jeremie discovered it ten years later that Aelita came to life again. The boy was actually able to materialize her into our world, and after about a year, they pieced together a series of clues and information that led to the discovery of her being Waldo's daughter."

She paused, gazing out the window again. "What about the mother?"

"She was kidnapped and held hostage for a brief time by the Men in Black," he replied. "However, they released her when she fraudulently admitted she didn't have any knowledge of her husband's work with Project Carthage."

" _Project_ _Carthage_ ," she spat. "We should've never granted funding to that nonsense." She took a breath. "Are the Schaeffers aware of XANA's return?"

"Affirmative, ma'am. Even the kids know the government's plans to take over the code and use it as a weapon." He stood. "And that's why we have to step in, as I'm sure you know. The Men in Black have grown to such a large capacity that they can't be contained. They're infiltrating every government agency around the world — _they're_ the ones who want to use XANA's code to their advantage."

"Yes, I've known for quite some time," she said curtly. "Has anyone told the President about this?"

"No, ma'am. We're apprehensive about how he might react, given our international relations with some of the countries involved are already on thin ice."

"Good. Keep it that way." She spotted another folder on the table. "Whose did we miss?"

"Jim Moralés," Sebastian answered, hesitating. "He's the physical education teacher at Kadic and is also a dorm supervisor of sorts."

"Why do we have a file on him, Agent Collins?"

"He's had many jobs over the years, ma'am, including working as a Special Forces agent and serving as a Navy SEAL. He was a Corporal in the 7th Stationary Battalion, a forest ranger in Québec, a salvage diver for the Marine Corps, a Secret Service agent, a military fighter pilot…" The man paused. "Honestly, ma'am, his entire career history is listed in the file — it's amazing what just one person can accomplish." He let out a short laugh. "Plus, he's inadvertently gotten mixed up in cases involving Lyoko and XANA to such a degree that we had to include him as a person of interest."

She relaxed. "Alright. Here's what I want you to do: Get these kids, and the Schaeffers — and Jim, too, I guess — and bring them here. Do it quietly; we don't want anyone getting suspicious. It is imperative that the Men in Black _do not_ get to them first. There's no telling what will happen. These people are very important, understood?" She looked back down at the files. "We have to keep them safe."

"Of course, ma'am. We'll send a dispatch team out to collect them tomorrow."

"Thank you, Agent Collins. You may go."

* * *

"So, what are we gonna do?"

It was Odd who spoke. The kids were spread out in Jeremie's room, during that time between classes ending and dinner starting.

Ulrich stole a glance at his friends: Aelita was concentrating on a ball of water from Giana's water bottle that she had formed to ice, as it hung a foot above the opening. Giana faded in and out of view, which seemed to make her dog a little wary. Yumi was next to them, leaned up against the side of Jeremie's bed, a smile spread across her face as she used her powers to hold an _X-Men_ comic book in midair, slowly turning the pages as she read through it. Odd's shield flickered around him as Sissi pelted him with pencils and flash drives and crumpled up pieces of paper.

The boy leaned back and shrugged, turning to address his roommate: "I say we're doing just fine."

The door opened suddenly as William entered the room. He closed and locked it immediately. "We're all dead if someone walks in and sees this," he warned, giving a sweeping gesture to the scene in front of him. A halo of black smoke covered his right hand as his phone suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"We're researching," Jeremie shot back. "Odd brought all the _X-Men_ media he has." He reached over to his laptop and paused a DVD copy of _X-Men: Apocalypse_. "I didn't know you could do that thing where you summon something here, too."

"It's been happening all day," the older boy admitted. He sat down and picked up a comic, turning to a random page. After a moment, he closed the book and threw it back on top of the pile. "I don't know if this really counts as research."

Someone banged on the door. "Belpois! Stern! Della Robbia! Ishiyama! Stones! Dunbar! De Luca! Sissi!"

It was Jim.

"I know you're all in there! Open up!"

The kids immediately stopped what they were doing. A piece of paper hit Odd in the leg as his shield disappeared. The water Aelita had been focusing on splashed back down into the purple bottle. The comic book Yumi was suspending in the air fell, the girl catching it expertly.

Odd opened the door. "What's up, Jim?"

"You should be heading to the cafeteria," he replied, crossing his arms. "Rosa's told me she's barely seen you kids at dinner this week — what the hell's gotten into you!"

"We were just heading there now," Giana lied. She stood up and clipped Vega's leash to her collar before putting on the dog's harness.

Yumi threw the comic book into her backpack. "I should be heading home, anyway." She shouldered the bag, passing by Jim. "See you guys tomorrow."

He peeked into the room. " _X-Men_ , huh?" Eyeing the pile of comic books and the paused movie on Jeremie's laptop, he continued: "You know, I was an extra in _X-Men: The Last Stand_. They did filming for it during one of the summer breaks." He frowned. "They, uh, cut my scene out though."

Jeremie perked up as he locked his door. "Really, Jim?" He smiled. "You wouldn't happen to want to talk about it, would you?"

He pondered the thought as he ushered the kids downstairs and out of the dorm building. "Actually, Belpois, I would."


	34. Chapter XXXIV

**Chapter XXXIV**

* * *

All William wanted to do was apologize. He was so desperately focused on Giana forgiving him for what had happened the morning after the _Bal_ , that it was all he could think of during classes. He was distracted, to the point of Yumi having to nudge him on more than one occasion during Mr. Caggia's Italian class, inconspicuously motioning to his hands as halos of black smoke flickered around them.

"Pay attention," she'd snapped. "Or are you doing this on purpose so you can ask her to help you study?"

He'd ignored the remark, turning back to his notes.

They were all doing fairly well, in terms of keeping each other in check. But it was Tuesday, and their abilities had only manifested two days prior, and Franz and his team weren't doing anything to fix whatever it was that had caused it. As a matter of fact, they were more intrigued than concerned — it was as if they were science experiments, being observed from afar.

Giana's door was open, so he approached her, speaking low and in English: "I'm sorry."

"I know," she replied, tired. She put a bowl of dog food on the floor and instructed Vega to eat.

"I don't think you do." He pulled out the chair at her desk, sitting in it. "I just… I feel so _terrible_ —"

"You're trying to overcompensate because I was in an abusive relationship," she said, cutting him off. She put the dog food away and perched on the edge of her bed. "It's _fine_."

He sprang to his feet. "It's _not_!"

"You're beating yourself up about it!"

"Because I—" He took a deep breath, refocusing. "I care about you, and… I don't want you to associate me with him."

She closed her eyes and exhaled. It was painfully obvious he'd been referring to Xander. But when she opened them again, she vaguely noticed Ulrich and Yumi standing in the doorway. They both wore looks of concern that she couldn't see.

"What's going on?" Ulrich asked, taking a step inside.

A look passed between the couple, still sitting across the room from one another. William's shoulders slumped and he hung his head; the girl sighed, answering in French: "He accidentally hit me—"

Before she could finish, Ulrich and Yumi had leapt forward, tackling William to the floor. Vega started barking, Giana sprang to her feet, and the trio fought each other in a flurry of limbs.

"Get the hell _off of me_!" the older boy demanded.

"You are _such a_ —" Yumi was so angry, she had called him something incredibly vulgar in Japanese.

"I was asleep!" he protested.

"He's telling the truth!" Giana shouted, attempting to separate them. "It was the other night, at the hotel. He was having a nightmare or something, and I was trying to wake him up! It didn't—"

"It didn't _count_?" Ulrich spat. He disentangled himself and stood. "Let me tell you something," he continued in a low voice. "I've been dealing with blows from my father for as long as I can remember!" He put one foot up on the edge of her bed and pulled up his left pant leg, gesturing to a scar on his shin about five inches long. " _This_ is from when I was nine."

Giana rolled up the right sleeve of her sweater, pointing to the cluster of scars on her arm. "Last year. That party I told you about, when I ended up with the glass in my arm." She paused. "And don't even get me started on the bruises that I used to have. I had to lie to my parents and tell them they were all from fencing."

"I never knew you fenced," William said, trying to get up.

"You _stay down_!" Yumi ordered, holding him in place via telekinesis. It was like an invisible barrier had appeared above him, crushing him to the floor.

"Yumi, _stop_!" Giana snapped. She turned to her boyfriend. "The point is, it's in the past. William — I _know_ you're not like him. It was just a freak thing that happened. I mean, yes," she paused, sitting down again, "I was upset about it, and I shut you out, and I didn't want to talk. But it's okay. _We're okay_."

Suddenly, Jim appeared in the doorway. Vega padded over and sat in front of him, wagging her tail. Seeing that the dog wasn't working, he gave her some scratches behind the ears. "De Luca," he started, somber, "Stern, Dunbar, Ishiyama… Come with me. The, uh, principal wants to see you. The rest of your group is waiting downstairs."

* * *

Multiple agents from the United States Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Federal Bureau of Investigation stood around Principal Delmas' office with members of France's intelligence services, the Directorate-General for External and Internal Security. They watched in silence as the eight warriors filed in after Jim.

Jeremie's face turned white. He thought he was going to be sick, that the cybercrimes he'd been committing over the last few years had finally caught up to him, and somehow, he was about to take his friends down too.

"What's going on?" Yumi asked.

A woman from the CIA stepped forward. She was older, had short, red hair, and presented herself in a no-nonsense way as she stated, in French, "You're all in grave danger."

A blonde agent from the Directorate-General for Internal Security spoke next. "What Agent Simmons means, is…" He fidgeted. "You all need to pack some things and come with us. The Men in Black are after you. We've been sent to collect you as a group and take you somewhere safe." He turned to Aelita. "Your parents are being debriefed in Switzerland as we speak, and we will meet up with them when we get to the United States."

The girl with the pink hair looked around at the adults in the room and noticed that Principal Delmas was not among them.

"Where's my father?" Sissi demanded, taking a bold step forward.

"He's fine, Miss Delmas," one of the FBI agents assured her. "He's in the middle of a debriefing." She gestured around to the group. " _All_ of your families are, actually, and we will have plainclothes officers keeping an eye on them for the foreseeable future, just in case."

"So," Giana started wearily, "we have to hide."

"That's right, Miss De Luca," Agent Simmons responded. She paused a beat. "Your brother… Is he aware of the supercomputer? XANA? Lyoko?"

It was like a ripple effect, the eight kids suddenly stiffening, giving each other sidelong glances.

"Yes," the girl said in a half-whisper.

"Has he been scanned?" a DGSE agent inquired.

"Yes," Jeremie answered, hanging his head.

Giana leaned into Yumi. "Are they after him, too?"

"We're not quite sure, Miss De Luca," a CIA agent replied. "As far as the Men in Black are concerned, you kids, Jim, and the Schaeffers are the only ones aware of the supercomputer. But you can never be too cautious."

" _Jim?"_ Odd and Ulrich sputtered.

"I've been, uh, having a little déjà vu," the man said meekly.

"I thought we fixed that!" Jeremie shouted.

"We have to act now," Agent Simmons ordered, ignoring him. "You'll have an hour; we'll meet you at the front gate to start the transport process."

* * *

The allotted time had passed, and the group rendezvoused with the agents.

"You don't really think the Men in Black would go after our families, do you?" Aelita questioned.

The blonde agent from the DGSE showed no emotion when he said, "It's hard to tell, Miss Schaeffer."

The girl blanched — never in her life had Aelita been referred to by her given surname. It was an odd feeling; she cast her gaze to the floor of the car they'd been ushered into, having to leave in groups. There were three other decoy cars, just in case, and every one of them took off in a different direction toward the airport.

"Stones," she heard herself say. "Not Schaeffer. _Stones_."

The agents were quiet.

"Odd and I are bringing animals into the United States," Giana pointed out. "There's paperwork involved."

"Yes, we're aware," Agent Simmons responded. "Everything's been taken care of." She paused, the corners of her mouth turning up to form the slightest smile. "Do you really think we'd put you all on a commercial plane to D.C.?"

Ulrich was quiet, but relieved. He hadn't said a word as he'd gathered his things and got into the car with three of his friends. Here he was, on the run from a terrorist organization, and he had to laugh inwardly at himself: They were going to the United States, and he'd finally be far, far away from his father.

Jeremie peered at him. "What's so funny?"

The boy didn't realize he'd actually been laughing. He stared down at his hands. "It's ironic," he said, quiet. "We all had that same dream a few nights ago, about the Men in Black chasing us, and having to retreat to Switzerland by way of Lyoko…" He let out a breath. "I'm glad to be leaving France behind, Jeremie. Going into hiding means my dad won't be able to find me."

Aelita continued to gaze out the window. "That dream…" She paused, taking a moment. "I lived through that, all those years ago. When my father and I had to take refuge on Lyoko." She shuddered. "That was the first time I thought he was gone."

"Do you think it could've actually happened?" Giana wondered aloud. "That they'd have found us at school?"

"They were closer than you realize," Agent Simmons told her. "If we had waited another day or two, that dream would've been a reality."

"Where are we going?" Jeremie asked. "You said something about D.C."

"We have a safe house ready for you, Mr. Belpois," the DGSE agent replied. "All of you, including Jim, Waldo, and Anthea." Aelita's gaze flickered to Jeremie. "It's located in Virginia, just a short drive from D.C. We may have to move you eventually, but the perimeter is secure and we'll have our agents doing round-the-clock surveillance."

"What about Lyoko? And XANA? We've been working—"

"Do you think we'd force you into hiding without having a plan in place?" he interrupted. "You have members of the top security agencies around the world at your disposal, Mr. Belpois."

"But…" Aelita stiffened. "Will we be able to continue our mission?"

"Of course." The agent leaned back. "You and the Schaeffers aren't the only ones with access to Lyoko."

* * *

"What are you doing?"

It was almost one in the morning in Arlington. None of the kids had slept, what with the time difference and paranoia setting in. Ulrich stood in the doorway to the kitchen, weary, watching Odd and Giana move deftly about the room, side-stepping each other and having an animated conversation in Italian.

Well, it was on the girl's end, anyway. Odd's grasp of the language was still a bit rusty.

"Making sauce," she replied nonchalantly, in French.

"Sauce?" He moved to take a seat at the island counter.

Odd nodded. "Mhm. We each have a family recipe, so we're going to see whose is better."

"But… _sauce_?"

"To have with pasta and meatballs and stuff," the girl replied. She turned to Odd, furrowing her brow. "Is it just an Italian thing?"

He shrugged. "Must be."

"It's one in the morning," Ulrich said, resting his head in his hands.

"You guys couldn't sleep either, huh?"

The trio stopped what they were doing and turned to find the rest of their friends standing in the doorway. They crowded into the room and each took a seat. It was Yumi who spoke.

"Want to try some sauce?" Odd offered, lifting the wooden spoon from his simmering pot.

"It's one in the morning," Ulrich repeated.

"It's seven back at school," Jeremie pointed out. "We'd just be heading to breakfast."

The group let out a collective groan.

"My parents and Jim are dead asleep," Aelita said. "Traveling must've worn them out."

Jeremie stared down at his phone, resting in front of him on the counter. "I feel like I've failed." He stole a glance straight ahead, out the window at the night sky. "We've come so far, worked so hard over the last three years… and now we've had to move continents and are at the mercy of adults."

"Adults who know what they're doing," Sissi pointed out. "They've been compiling cases on us ever since you first turned on the supercomputer."

"Longer than that," Aelita said. "They've been keeping tabs on my father since before I was born, back when he worked for Project Carthage." She moved closer to Jeremie. "You didn't fail. We needed help, and now we're getting it."

He adjusted his glasses. "I just… I hate not being in control."

William went into the den at the front of the house and peered out a window. "That car's still parked on the other side of the street."

"They're from the Agency," Odd reminded him, still focused on his pot of sauce. "They're protecting us."

"Let's face it," Yumi said, resigned. "We've lost whatever freedom we had left. We're in _hiding_." She stood; she could feel her blood boiling. "We're— we're dangerous!"

"Giana!" Sissi shrieked.

Ulrich and William were the first to reach the brunette with their powers, tackling her to the floor, the impact causing them to slide across the kitchen. Odd stayed put, calling up his shield. At the same time, Sissi, Jeremie, and Aelita dropped down, huddling against the other side of the island.

A butcher's knife sailed through the air right where the girl had been standing, embedding itself deep in the wall. The drawer it had come from leaned so far open, it was tipping from the weight of various utensils. Yumi slumped back down into her chair.

Vega and Kiwi started barking, skidding into the room. The kids could hear shouting from upstairs as Jim, Franz, and Anthea came barreling down, asking what was wrong, if they were alright.

"I…" Yumi's whole body shook as she tried to string some words together. "I didn't mean—"

"It's okay," Giana said meekly, a bit dazed. "Can I get up now?"

The boys scrambled to their feet, each offering a hand to help her.

"Thanks for saving my life." She turned back to her sauce, shutting off the burner.

Jim went into the den. "It pierced the wall! The tip of the blade is sticking out!"

Franz leaned against the island. "Impressive."

Anthea produced a box of pasta from the pantry. "I see we're making sauce."

"None of you seem the _least_ concerned about the Men in Black!" Jeremie accused. "We've had to move continents!"

They were in a nice townhouse in Arlington, Virginia, less than fifteen minutes from D.C. The American and French intelligence agencies had been working closely with one another to monitor the situation, but he still felt as if they weren't getting the whole story.

"That DGSE agent said we weren't the only ones with access to Lyoko," the boy continued, gripping the back of a stool. "So that means—"

"The CIA has a supercomputer, yes," Franz interrupted. "But _we_ _just got here_. They want us all to rest before working with them to take down the Men in Black."

"What are we supposed to do?" Aelita demanded. She watched as her mother poured the pasta into a pot of boiling water. "We're just… _kids_."

Jim fidgeted, and Anthea frowned. Franz's face remained stoic.

"Well?"

Her father cleared his throat. "We can't tell you right now."

The girl with the pink hair strode over to him, stopping close enough so she could smell the alcohol still present on his breath. "Why not?"

"You'll find out tomorrow."

"No." She folded her arms. "We'll find out _now_."

"Aelita," Anthea warned, watching the pasta. "Don't."

She scowled. "You're choosing _now_ to be authoritative?"

"Aelita!" Jim chastised.

"Alright." Franz said, folding his arms. "You really want to know? It's because you're the only ones with the power to end this."


	35. Chapter XXXV

**Chapter XXXV**

* * *

 _Her eyes were closed — someone was kissing her. It felt nice._

 _But when she opened them, expecting to find William's tranquil grey, she was instead met with the piercing green she'd grown to fear._

" _No," she heard herself whisper. Then, again, forceful: "No! You're dead!"_

 _Xander had that same look on his face that she'd come to associate with his violence. She struggled under the weight of his grasp, but it was too much; she was too weak._

 _He had sandwiched her up against a wall, crushing her with his force and determination. "We're all alone," he said smoothly. "No one can help you now."_

 _She couldn't breathe — couldn't_ fight. _She went numb as he started hitting her; blaming her for every one of his misfortunes; how, when she broke up with him, it was the last straw; that it was_ her fault _he was gone._

* * *

She awoke to tears streaming down her face, her entire body wracked with sobs. She pulled the blankets around her tighter as Vega tried to nudge her with her snout.

"Giana?"

It was Sissi. She had said her name from across their shared room. They were in the townhouse in Arlington.

The girl kicked her covers aside and tiptoed over to her friend. "Was it a nightmare?"

She couldn't find the strength to answer.

Sissi sat next to her, resting a hand on her back. "It's alright," she whispered. "We're safe here."

She heard the brunette choke out a sob. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to focus, she tried to call upon her powers. However, she was hit with a barrier — instead of leaving her body, the healing energy slammed right back into her with almost enough force to knock her to the floor.

This was a pain she couldn't heal. It was emotional, not physical.

"What's going on?"

The girl peered over her shoulder to see William, standing in the doorway. He carried himself as if he'd never gone to sleep.

"I don't know," she admitted, standing. She gestured for him to take her spot. "She's not saying anything."

He gave Vega a pat on the head on his way into the room. Giana was sitting up now, still shaking, still sobbing.

"Hey, what—" He tried to pull her closer, but she'd cut him off with a kiss. She was gripping him so tightly, he could feel her nails digging into his shoulders through his shirt.

He broke away, catching his breath, casting a brief glance over his shoulder to realize that Sissi had left and closed the door. "Not that I didn't appreciate that, but—"

"It was Xander," she interrupted, hollow. "He told me… He—"

Her voice broke. It had been a terrible, out-of-body experience. But it felt very real.

"He's dead," she heard herself whisper.

She needed to be in control of _something_.

William nodded.

She leaned forward and kissed him again, breaking away a moment later. "I hate him."

The boy remained silent.

"I know I said I loved him, but I hate him," she continued, her voice rising to a normal level. "I hate that he's a recurring guest-star in my nightmares. I hate that XANA created a specter of him in France and almost killed me. _I hate_ what he did to me!" She was screaming now, her vision still blurred with tears. _"I hate him! I HATE HIM!"_

"I know," he responded, even. "I hate him, too."

There was a knock at the door, whoever it was deciding to open it without a response.

"Giana, sweetie?" It was Anthea. "What's—"

The woman stopped, noticing the couple, how the girl was still gripping William's shoulders as he tried desperately to calm her down.

Anthea left without another word, closing the door again.

"He's dead," she repeated, strained.

All he could say was, "Yes."

She buried her face in his shirt. "He's dead and I hate him."

* * *

They pulled up around the front of the Central Intelligence Agency building. It was tall, modern, made of steel and glass and tucked back behind the Embassies.

They had to go through four retinal scanners and six fingerprint scanners before coming to a metal detector and conveyer belt for bag checks, the setup not unlike ones found at airports.

Giana groaned, opting to go through last.

"What?" Aelita questioned.

She turned her head to the left, indicating Vega. "Her equipment always sets it off."

Standing in front of the detector, she extended the dog's leash and told her to stay. After going through without a problem, she called Vega to her, the action causing about a dozen alarms to sound.

"Stay there, please," a female agent instructed in English. She pressed a button to stop the alarms before approaching the girl. "Arms out like a T."

"They usually just swab my hands at the airport," Giana protested.

"This is the CIA," the agent snapped. "Arms _out_ , Miss."

William took a running stance as if to stop them, but Odd and Ulrich each grabbed an arm, holding him back.

"What's going on?" Sissi whispered.

"She's fine," Anthea replied. "Just a little misunderstanding."

Giana could feel everyone staring, and tried her best to ignore it as the agent frisked her.

"Clear," the woman said, cold.

Another agent had looked up from patting down Vega, having gotten between and underneath the harness. "So's the dog."

The girl snatched the leash and mumbled a "Thanks" before rejoining the group, William taking her free hand as they fell into step together.

They were led by Agent Collins through a series of long hallways, past unmarked doors and conference rooms, other agents milling about. Jeremie scrutinized them, opting to bite his tongue instead of assaulting their escort with the dozens of questions swarming around in his head.

The group took an elevator up to what was probably the top floor, letting out in a part of the building that seemed a stark contrast to where they'd been: Dark wood paneling lined the walls with sconces placed at various intervals. They stopped in front of a large set of doors at the end of the hall.

Instantly, they swung open, revealing a tall woman with blonde hair. She had a cup of coffee delicately grasped in her left hand.

Stepping aside so they could file into her office, she smiled and introduced herself. "Agent Avery Paulson, Director to the CIA." She took a sip of coffee. "I've been expecting you."

* * *

"Tell us why we're here," Jeremie demanded.

The Director let out a sigh. "Please relax, Mr. Belpois."

"We're here to help you," Agent Collins reminded them. "We're the good guys."

"He's right." The woman opened a file on her computer. "The Men in Black are a terrorist organization with pockets all over the world. They would've found you at Kadic sooner or later, had we not acted so swiftly. And as you've probably heard, we here at the CIA do have access to a supercomputer that's linked directly to Lyoko."

"But _how can we help_?" Aelita demanded.

"Miss Schaeffer—" Agent Collins started.

She stood. _"Stones!"_

The room went silent. A glance passed between Franz and Anthea.

"Miss Stones," he corrected himself. "First, we need to evaluate your abilities."

"Take into account the knife in our kitchen wall," Yumi muttered.

"Then," the agent continued, ignoring her, "we'll send you to Lyoko. You'll have to access a certain string of data in Sector Five. Once it's mined, we'll have our team, and you" — he gestured to Jeremie and Franz — "analyze it, and we'll move on to Phase Two."

"What's Phase Two?" Odd asked.

"The data you'll mine is what holds the key to stopping XANA," the Director explained. "Once we've figured out how to deploy it, we'll send you on a reconnaissance mission to a Replika we've been monitoring."

" _What's Phase Two?"_ Jeremie demanded.

"The Replika supercomputer is located at the Men in Black's headquarters," Agent Collins responded. "As soon as you report back from your mission, it may take a few days to form a plan and prepare the necessary arrangements. Then, we'll strike." He paused. " _That's_ Phase Two."

"Is there a Phase Three?" Ulrich asked dryly.

The Director's gaze flickered to Agent Collins. "Phase Three is the assault."

"But why can't you send one of your agents to Lyoko?" Sissi inquired.

"The scanners don't work on adults," Franz replied. "Sure — I was able to use the one in France all those years ago, but it destroyed my digital signature and almost killed me in the process. We just don't have the same metabolic structure, and the supercomputer can't process it safely."

"So, even if we'd tried to scan Jim when Aelita first came here, to preserve his memories," Jeremie started, "it wouldn't have worked?"

"You can perform a simple scan," he said. "But virtualization would be fatal."

* * *

They were led to an area outside a room in one of the compound's sublevels, passing through more retinal and fingerprint scanners. One wall was lined with weapons, with a one-way window placed on the opposite side.

"This is one of our training suites," Agent Collins explained. "We'll go in alphabetical order."

Jeremie swallowed hard, resting his palm against a scanner by a heavy door leading into the starkly-lit room.

"Belpois, Jeremie," a female voice announced. The door unlocked, the scan granting access.

The Director leaned back in a plush leather chair. "Please, demonstrate."

He stood in the center of the room, fidgeting, adjusting his glasses. In an instant, he'd teleported himself to the far-left corner, scrutinizing a crossbow. He stalled a moment, teleporting back to his original spot. "I don't really know what you want me to do, here…"

Agent Collins looked up from the tablet he'd been using to take notes. "Let's try something." He paused. "Miss De Luca?"

The girl stood, leaving Vega in a down-stay by the chairs the group had been occupying. She walked straight to the door, resting her palm against the sensor just like Jeremie.

"De Luca, Giana," the voice announced.

She made her way over to Jeremie, the duo eyeing each other before turning to the window. "What now?" she asked.

"Clasp hands," the Director suggested. "See if you can combine your powers and make them work together."

Standing next to each other, they held hands. "You're sweaty," the brunette mumbled in French.

"Sorry," he said, a slight edge to his voice.

And then, they were gone.

Jim leapt from his chair. "What the—"

"One moment," Agent Collins instructed, typing a few commands into a terminal. Immediately, the image they were seeing shifted. "These," he started, gesturing to the duo, "are their heat signatures."

The group's view into the room had gone from stark, to a blue, almost black-lit environment, their forms pulsating in a plethora of neon.

"Whoa," Aelita breathed.

"Alright," the Director announced. "It worked. We're only able to see your heat signatures." She paused. "Mr. Belpois, try teleporting the both of you to the far-left side of the room." She took another sip of coffee. "Miss De Luca, see if you can stay invisible."

In the blink of an eye, they had shifted: No longer were they stationed in the center, but instead they found themselves on the far left, just as the Director had asked.

Giana took her hand back, causing them to fade back into view. Agent Collins disabled the heat map.

The girl leaned heavily against the wall. "Is that always so… unpleasant?"

"Yeah," Jeremie answered, shrugging. "I'm sure it'll get better with practice."

Odd jumped with enthusiasm. "I'm next!"

"We'd like to keep this in alphabetical order," the Director started, "but maybe Miss Ishiyama can accompany you, Mr. Della Robbia."

Yumi stood, stretching, before placing her palm on the sensor next to the door. Odd stayed put in the center of the room, fidgeting, as Jeremie and Giana left to reclaim their spots with the group.

"Is Yumi going to use me for target practice?" Odd asked, wary.

"Normally we'd have one of our younger agents be the assailant, but as this is a special circumstance…" Agent Collins paused. "Yes. Proceed."

A throwing knife lifted from its sheath on the wall, unaided, as Yumi guided the weapon to stay poised next to her, at eye-level. The tip faced Odd, who'd moved to the far side of the room.

The girl let out a breath, trying to calm herself. "Ready?"

He nodded.

She closed her eyes, feeling the power welling within her as the knife sailed through the air, similar to the incident that had happened the night before in their kitchen. Only this time, it didn't embed itself in the opposite wall — she heard audible gasps and a clatter, opening her eyes to find the weapon on the floor directly in front of Odd, his shield having just dissipated.

A large grin spread across his face. "Neat! Now let's try you."

Before anyone could protest, he picked up the knife and hurled it straight at her. She recoiled, holding her breath as the weapon stalled half a foot away; it was motionless in the air, pointed at the space between her eyes. Feeling her heart in her throat, she gripped the handle as she plucked it from its space, angrily stuffing the knife back in its sheath.

"Are you okay?" Ulrich demanded.

"Yeah," she said in a half-whisper. Clearing her throat, she continued at a normal volume. "I'm fine."

"It was definitely a good test of reflexes," the Director mused. "Stupid, and reckless, but at least we're able to properly evaluate you."

* * *

"Nico?"

Distracted, the boy cast a glance behind him at their housekeeper. "Hi, Sonya."

"It's cold," she commented. "Come inside. Your parents are on their way home and dinner's almost ready."

He stood, stretching. "I'll be in in a minute."

The door closed. He'd been sitting on the steps outside their house, checking down the street every so often to make sure the car from the Agency hadn't left.

"Nico, is that you?"

"Mrs. Johansen?" He crossed the street, heading to the old woman.

She smiled kindly. "How's your sister, dear?"

He relaxed the slightest bit. "She's doing well, thanks." Fishing his phone from his coat pocket, he found one of the photos from the _Bal_. "This is her and her boyfriend, William."

She pushed her glasses up closer to her eyes and peered at the device, her smile growing. "Oh, they look lovely."

"Yeah, he's a nice guy." He paused. "How are you and your husband?"

"Oh, we're fine…" She trailed off, taking a moment. "That car's been sitting there since yesterday. Connecticut plates. You know them?"

He pursed his lips, letting out a quick nod.

"New girlfriend?"

He let out a short laugh. "No, ma'am. They're, uh…" He shifted. "Family-friends."

She was quiet for a moment. It was obvious the boy had lied, though she thought to ignore it. "Well, as long as there's nothing fishy going on. Cambridge has seen its fair share of stress."

He checked his phone again. "I should go… Dinner's almost ready."

"Of course." She opened the door to her home, stopping halfway and turning. "Do take care of yourself."

"You, too."

He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Casting a furtive glance, he realized Jillian, one of the agents assigned to them, wasn't in the car; in fact, the vehicle was empty. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a man in a dark suit and glasses, coming down the sidewalk right at him.

"Damnit." He crossed to his side of the street, pretending not to have noticed the man. He started walking in the opposite direction, away from the car, away from home.

Away from help.

"Nico De Luca!" the man bellowed. "Stop right there!"

He started running, which, thankfully, he was good at. Not only was it suppertime, but it was still rush hour, meaning there were crowds of people around who walked or took the T as opposed to driving. He knew there was a side entrance to the Harvard Square T station that he could access a few blocks away.

Taking the steps underground two at a time and relishing in the opportunity to blend in with evening commuters, he practically slammed his Student CharlieCard against the reader, darting through the gate as soon as it opened. From there, he could either take the Red Line out of the city and transfer to a train going anywhere in the state, or go deeper toward Boston, maybe get off at the Kendall Square/MIT stop or something.

He opted for the latter. Ross lived near MIT, and it was only two stops over. He could seek shelter there. But first he had to call his parents. Warn them.

It was less than a ten-minute ride, and times between trains were usually quick, but someone came over the speaker and announced inbound delays. Typical. Trying to calm his breathing, he took his phone out, calling his father.

"Dad," he choked, addressing him in Italian. "Don't go home. There's a Men in Black agent. They're chasing me."

"Where are you?" Sal demanded.

"Harvard Square T station," he said in a low voice. "I don't think he saw me — I'm gonna go to Ross's."

"We're stuck in traffic, but we're not too far. We'll meet you there."

After hanging up, he located Jillian's contact card. She answered on the first ring. "Nico?"

"Code Black," he said.

She narrowed her eyes, getting in the car and starting the engine. "Where?"

"On our street — I ran in the opposite direction but I don't know if he saw me. I'm trying to get over to the MIT area and hide at a friend's. I don't—"

"Get the hell out of there," she instructed. "Do your parents know?"

"Yes, they're meeting me at my friend's."

"No." She turned a corner, jamming on the brakes as people walked out in front of her without looking. "You know Agent Isabel Goode from the CIA? Her grab team is in contact with your parents as we speak; they're waiting to intercept them once they get off the Harvard Bridge and will take them somewhere safe."

"What about Sonya?"

"Agent Goode will personally extract her and accompany her home." She paused. "You're headed to Ross Weber's, correct?"

He nodded.

"Nico?"

"Yeah. Yeah, him." He paused. "I have a go bag. In the front hall closet, under my skateboard—"

"Agent Goode will secure your bag and your board and meet us at the airport."

An announcement came on, letting passengers know that the next Red Line train to Braintree was approaching. "I gotta go."

Putting his phone back in his pocket, his heart jumped into his throat when he spotted the agent again, coming down the same stairs he'd just taken and staring right at him through his dark glasses.

"Help! Security!" the boy shouted. Then, louder, "SECURITY!"

Immediately, three transit officers appeared from a side corridor. The agent pulled out a gun and started firing into the crowd, turning the platform into a place of utter chaos as people ran, shouting, crying, attempting to get away.

The Red Line train had stopped at the platform, and Nico ran inside, squeezing past blissful commuters who were in the process of disembarking. One of the girls he'd brushed past said something in protest.

"Tori!" he shouted, strained. Grabbing the girl by the wrist, he pulled her back into the car as the doors closed.

Stunned, she shouldered one of her bags. He noticed she must've been at fencing practice earlier, judging by the white pants.

"Nico?" she sputtered, falling into an empty seat. She swung her backpack around and held it in her lap as he grabbed a handhold above her. "What the hell—"

"I'm going to the Weber's," he said. "You're better off coming with me."

She crossed her arms. "I have to babysit the twins."

"I'm in _danger_ , Tori!" he snapped. He lowered his voice when he noticed an older couple across from them, staring. "We all are."

" _What is going on?"_ she seethed in Italian.

"That man back there," he started, addressing her in the same language, "he's part of a terrorist organization called the Men in Black. And he's looking for Giana and I."

* * *

Luckily Ross's parents were also stuck in traffic, and the boy opened the door to Nico's frantic pounding.

"Hey!" he greeted, none-the-wiser. He noticed the girl. "Tori."

"Ross," she said casually.

He leaned against the wall, the light reflecting off his blonde hair. "Bryce isn't back from squash yet."

"I'm not here for Bryce," she replied. "Nico dragged me from the Harvard Square station because he and Giana are in danger."

"Giana's in France!"

There was another knock. "United States FBI! Open up!"

Ross jumped. "What the—"

Nico pushed past him, opening the door to let the woman inside.

"Agent Jillian Conway." She flashed a badge, eyeing the teens. "Ross Weber and Victoria Russo. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You weren't kidding," the blonde said in astonishment. "You really _are_ in trouble."

Tori's eyes flickered to the agent. "Nico said they're after Giana. Is she alright?"

"She's fine. We've moved their group to a safe house." Jillian looked to Nico. "You'll have to join them."

"What about my parents?" he demanded.

"They want anyone directly associated with Lyoko," she explained, even. "Of course, we'll up security — I told you, we're taking every precaution possible. But I don't believe they'll go after your parents."

"That man had a gun," Tori said finally, dropping her bags and coming to sit at the bottom of the Weber's staircase. "He had a _gun_! _He_ _shot a gun_!"

"He's being taken care of," the agent reassured. "Everyone is going to be fine."

"What the hell is Lyoko?" Ross demanded.

"It's a long story, and not one you'll be a part of."

Nico leaned against the front door, rubbing his temples. "They're coming. Four of them. I can't tell if they're armed."

Tori shot up. "How do you know?"

"I can sense it."

"How come you couldn't sense the one at the T station?"

"He followed me!" he snapped, glaring. "I _did_ feel it earlier, across the street from my house. It was like I was being watched, and then I saw him."

Jillian cleared her throat. "Two agents from the FBI and CIA are on their way to do perimeter sweeps and keep an eye on you — their names are Ashton Crane and Mercedes Bennett. They'll knock three times and say they have pizza to deliver." She looked between the trio, starting to move to the back of the house. "Nico, we have to leave. _Now_."

"Okay." He stalled a moment, his gaze flickering to Tori's fencing bag. In a flash, he unzipped it and removed her épée, shouldering the three-foot-long weapon.

The girl stood, trying to block him from following the agent out through the back. "Hey!"

"I'll buy you a new one," he said in a rush, shouldering past her.

She kept right on his tail as the duo made their retreat, cutting through a neighbor's yard. Gripping the sides of the doorway as Ross held her back, Tori shouted into the night: "You don't even know how to _use it_!"

The boy ushered her back inside, slamming and locking the door. "Come on," he said, gesturing for her to sit at the kitchen table. "Sit."

"We have a competition against St. John's Prep and Dana Hall on Saturday!" she shouted. "I need that épée!"

"I don't like it either, Tor." His expression darkened. "But in case you forgot, our friends are in danger!"

Three knocks came from the front of the house. "Pizza!" a man called.

"Echo," the boy said calmly. "Show me the door cam."

"Okay," the device replied. The screen atop the counter changed from its generic photo background, to a view of the front door. Two figures appeared, illuminated by the outside lamplight and the high beam resonating from the lens. The female agent's gaze flickered to the camera, the corners of her mouth twitching to form a tight smile. She flashed a CIA badge.

Ross turned to his friend. "I think they're legit."


	36. Chapter XXXVI

**Chapter XXXVI**

* * *

"And now on to national news." The anchorwoman straightened the stack of papers in front of her. "Shots rang out at a metro station in Cambridge, Massachusetts during this evening's commute, near the Harvard University campus. The incident killed at least one and injured dozens more. Three transit officers and two off-duty police officers assisted in the capture and arrest of the suspect, thirty-seven-year-old Eric Grayson. Transit authorities were made aware of the situation on a platform with a subway train headed into Boston, when a high school student shouted for help. So far, the man is not cooperating with police, but the FBI has stepped in to assist with the investigation."

The newscast cut to a reporter in Cambridge. "That's right," he said. "I'm standing outside the Harvard Square T station where the assault took place at around six o'clock this evening. The FBI has confirmed that the suspect was targeting that student who shouted for help; we will not be releasing their name to protect their identity as they are still a minor." He paused. "We're about to show some security footage of the incident — it's unclear if the victim was able to get away, due to the traffic coming out of the subway when it pulled up to the platform."

Grainy video with muffled sound played for a few seconds, showing the chaos just as the man started firing into the crowd. Then they refocused on the reporter again, widening to show a teenage girl next to him. "Now, you were there, Miss — can you describe the scene for us?"

She was blonde with brown eyes, and was visibly shaken; she wouldn't stop looking over her shoulder. "I was waiting to catch my train home — I live in the Central Square area — but then that guy noticed the man in the suit and was shouting for security, almost as if he knew he was in danger. Then the man pulled out a gun and started firing, and I just _ran_. I can't believe a kid my age would be targeted like that."

They cut back to the reporter. "This station will remain closed until further notice, and all Red Line trains are bypassing it while the investigation is underway. Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh had urged residents to seek shelter at the time of the incident while a manhunt took place, however the order has been lifted as the FBI and CIA were able to apprehend four additional accomplices over by MIT. Lockdown orders at Harvard, MIT, and BU have also been lifted." He paused a beat. "If you know anything regarding this incident, you are urged to contact Cambridge or Boston police. And, if you notice suspicious activity while commuting, please report it via the MBTA SeeSay app or find your nearest transit officer."

The World News anchorwoman reappeared on-screen. "There is believed to be no immediate threat to the D.C. area, however security in and around the White House, national monuments, and metro stations have been increased as a precaution." She paused as someone handed her another piece of paper. "We're just getting confirmation from the FBI that the suspect, Eric Grayson, is part of a terrorist organization who call themselves the Men in Black. Not much is known about this group, but we will keep you informed as the situation unfolds."

She went on to discuss a recent Women's March in California as Jim picked up the remote, muting the newscast. Jeremie had figured out how to set the television language and audio to French the night before.

Anthea straightened up in the armchair she'd been occupying. "Giana?"

The girl was sandwiched between Sissi and Yumi on the sectional sofa in the den, a cup of tea clutched in both hands.

A few minutes had passed before she whispered, "My brother."

Anthea frowned.

"He was looking for my brother," the girl continued. "That man was looking for Nico!" She stood, still clutching the cup of tea. "He _killed a person_!" She started pacing. "Someone _died_ because he wanted to find my brother!"

Jeremie stood, cautiously approaching her. "It's going to be—"

"It's _not_!" She turned on him. "Nico somehow knew he was being followed and then that man took out a gun and shot at innocent people! Don't you _dare_ try to tell me it's okay, Jeremie!" She stopped, setting her mug on the coffee table. "At least one person is dead tonight because of XANA! Because of — all _this_!" She stretched her arms, motioning to the group.

Franz jumped to his feet. "You don't know what it's like until you've _truly_ lost someone to an attack!" he shouted, his face red. "It's horrible! They just _stop existing_ after a return trip is initiated! They vanish without a trace and there are missing persons reports filed, the victim never to return home, and you have to live with the fact that you couldn't stop it — _you couldn't_ _save them_!" He stomped up to her until she could smell the whiskey on his breath. "You're a foolish child who doesn't know what the hell she's—"

He was cut off by Yumi, telekinetically throwing him against the far wall, balling her hands into fists.

"Maybe you forgot," she started in a low voice, "but they said at the CIA that my powers are off the charts. So, shut up."

Aelita joined her, the duo flanking the brunette. "We've been fighting this war for over three years while you were in hiding!" she cried. "And, what's more, you used the return trip function to relive the same day for _seven years_! Losing someone to an attack is completely different compared to losing them to a _terrorist_! _You're_ a foolish man who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about — you might've built Lyoko, but _we're in charge now_!"

Anthea approached her daughter. "Aelita—"

The girl turned, pushing her mother's hand away. "Don't you _dare_! You were gone, too, Mom — you were held hostage and you broke free and then you _hid_! You didn't even bother to look for me! You were both in Switzerland for I don't know _how long_ —"

"We were trying to protect you!" Franz bellowed. "We couldn't just _go back_ to France, Aelita! It would've put everything at risk!"

"Well we're in the United States now and we're _still_ at risk! The Men in Black are after us no matter where we are — they want XANA's code to use him as a weapon, remember? The government is only after it to try and advance their militaries, just like the Director and Agent Collins said! You got it all _wrong_!" A lump formed in her throat. "And it wouldn't be the first time, either."

She turned away, heading out of the room through the kitchen. Yumi and Jeremie followed swiftly after.

Everyone failed to notice the two figures standing in the archway from the foyer.

"Is this a bad time?" Agent Conway inquired, frowning.

"De Luca," Jim started, surprised, "I didn't know you were a twin."

"I'm not, I—" Giana stopped herself, taking the time to focus, vaguely noticing the person standing next to the agent. "Nico!" She ran to her brother, catching him in an embrace. "I thought— The news, they said that guy killed someone!"

"That bastard," he spat. "I got out just in time. And, I saved Tori — she must've gone to Rachel's or something after fencing, because she was about to get off the Red Line just as he'd started shooting. We went to the Weber's and Agent Conway was able to get me to the airport." He relaxed his shoulders, setting down his bag and skateboard. "Here I am."

"What about Mom and Dad? And Sonya?"

"A grab team intercepted your parents on their way to the Weber's and took them somewhere safe," Jillian explained. "Mrs. Day was escorted to her home by a CIA agent who's been working closely with me to monitor the activity in your area." She paused. "I'm Agent Jillian Conway, by the way. From the FBI. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Nico bent down, reaching into his bag. "I got this." He extended Tori's épée to his sister.

"My épée? You just left the house with it?" She paused. "You found it in the back of my closet?" Furrowing her brow, she squinted to examine the weapon at a closer angle. "V.A.R." She held it at arms' length. "This is Tori's! We had our initials engraved into the bell guards last year so we wouldn't get them mixed up."

"Yeah, uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I owe her a new one. I sort of took it from her before leaving Ross's."

Sissi inched closer to the trio, peering at the boy's hooded sweatshirt. She arched an eyebrow. "Wicked Smaht?"

"The Men in Black agents know what I look like, and we weren't sure if there were more of them out there," he explained. "So, I got a new hoodie, and put on a pair of glasses and a terrible Yankees hat to give the allusion a tourist." He paused, producing an FBI-issued fake ID from his pant pocket, handing it to his sister. "If anyone asked, I was Nick Ventura from Manhattan."

Giana scrutinized the card, turning to the agent. "People from the CIA and DGSE said they wouldn't go after our families."

"We were wrong," Jillian replied flatly. She finally entered the room, leaning against the wall next to Franz, who was still in a heap on the floor. "We've surmised that they're targeting anyone directly involved with Lyoko and XANA. And, as you've disclosed to the agents in France, Nico was let in on the secret and scanned — thus, he was made a target."

The boy took in the forlorn expression on his sister's face. "It's okay," he said. "I'm fine. We're all good."

"Odd and I made sauce last night," she said, trying to change the subject and make light of the situation. "I used Nonna's recipe."

"Mine's better," Odd grumbled.

"They're both equally good," William supplied.

Nico laughed. "Well, I'm biased, but also starving." He went into the kitchen, his sister and the other kids right behind him. "Anyone make meatballs?"

"I did," Anthea called. "In a bowl in the fridge, on the left-hand side of the middle shelf."

Jim looked to Agent Conway as Franz finally picked himself up and returned to the chair next to his wife. "So, um… What are we doing, exactly? Waiting? The people at the CIA said something about the kids accessing a Replika to do a recon mission."

She nodded. "Yes. I have to get back to Boston — Janine and Salvatore don't know it, but they're moving into their new house tomorrow. Someone will be by in the morning with more information."

"So, we're killing time."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Moralés." She sighed. "Unfortunately, these things take time. Plans have to be made."

"Oh, I know," he replied a bit too quickly. "I was a member of the Secret Service once."

"I'm aware." She smiled. "I've read your file."

* * *

"I wonder what Hervé and Nicholas think," Sissi said glumly, staring down into her cereal the next morning. "I wonder if my father told them anything."

"As far as the school's concerned, they think we're on a cultural exchange trip," Jim replied. "Whether or not Pichon and Poliakoff believe him is a completely different story."

"Nicholas will, without a doubt," she said. "Hervé is harder to convince."

"I'm supposed to have an AP Physics exam today," Nico muttered.

Jeremie coughed as he tried to take a sip of coffee. "Physics? Y-you're good with science?"

"Science, yes. But I don't have the skillset to run the supercomputer." He shrugged. "I mean, I can write programs and I worked on some projects at my dad's company this past summer. But I know next to nothing about quantum computing."

"You may still be useful," Franz offered. "The more who can take a look at that data, the better. Keep it in the back of your mind, at least."

Nico nodded, bringing his attention back to the food in front of him. Jeremie, however, was nonplussed: Between William's newfound technological capabilities and Franz's more informed style, he was starting to feel useless.

"I know what you're thinking," Aelita said, turning to her boyfriend. "We need you, Jeremie. You know more about the supercomputer than anyone I know — regardless of my father. The CIA wouldn't have asked you to help them if they didn't think you could do it."

"Why didn't they ask me?" William pointed out.

Aelita shrugged. "They probably don't know about your abilities."

* * *

"Alright, let's go."

The group followed Agent Collins underground, into the depths of the CIA headquarters. They ended up in a lab similar to the one in France, though far more advanced in terms of technology. Holographic images and maps floated on lit interfaces around the room, with various technicians typing rapidly at their terminals. A large, cylindrical machine stood in the center, with a closed hatch at one end to cover its on/off switch. Aelita eyed the XANA symbol warily as they passed it, a chill running down her spine.

"The scanners are through here," Agent Collins continued. He led them into another elevator with only an up and down button. After their quick descent, the doors opened into a large, circular room with nine scanners around the perimeter. "You'll be transferred all at once and materialize in the arena of Sector Five." He paused, eyeing Giana with her black Labrador. "Your dog—"

"Yeah, I know." She extended her left arm with the leash in-hand, and he took it as she did a one-eighty and walked into an open scanner about ten feet behind her.

"Our technicians will be monitoring your progress," Sebastian continued, "as will Mr. Schaeffer. The devirtualization coordinates are set to this lab, so should you lose your lifepoints, you will materialize back here in this room."

"Hey, Nico," Jeremie called, standing inside his scanner.

"Yeah?" the boy responded, looking out at the blonde on the other side of the room.

"Good luck."

Before he could utter a response, each scanner door closed, cutting their occupants off from the outside world. A female voice surrounded them, rattling off the transfer, scanner, virtualization commands as Sebastian left the room with Vega. The white halo of light enveloped each of them as they made their way into the virtual world.

* * *

They landed in a circle, staring out at the walls of the arena as the entrance to the core zone spun around them. Nico let out an audible gasp as he took in his surroundings and his new form, a dark suit reminiscent of a knight's armor, complete with a helmet, the headpiece open to show his face. A long sword was sheathed on his back. He brandished the weapon, looking around at the others.

"You're a knight!" Giana laughed. "Showing that school pride, huh?"

"And _you're_ basically a ninja," he replied, smirking. "Also, for the record, the mascot could be worse."

"Hey." She looked down at her side, noticing the sheath for her staff had disappeared. "Where's—"

"On your back," Ulrich interrupted.

The girl reached behind, pulling out an épée. The blade emitted a blue-green glow, similar in color to the terminal in the celestial dome. The grip and bell guard were black, blending in with the accents of her avatar. A wide grin spread across her face.

"You've all been upgraded," Sebastian explained. "We've been working diligently to enhance your weapons and powers."

"Energy Field!" Aelita ordered. Immediately, a pink orb, larger than that of her typical Energy Fields, appeared to float above her hand. Bringing it closer with an identical one in her left, they formed a larger shield, about half as tall as she was.

"The door's about to open," Jeremie observed, clutching one of the four daggers and throwing knives affixed to his belt. "Let's go."

"The key should be on the other side of the labyrinth, near the elevator," the female tech explained. "I'm Astrid. I'll be helping you."

"Wait." Nico stopped short, causing Yumi and Sissi to bump into him. "I can feel something—" He turned to Aelita. "What was it you said about monsters?"

"There's nothing on our end," Astrid argued.

"It's vague, but…" He closed his eyes, focusing. "There are at least two of them."

Not a moment later did an array of lasers shoot at the group, causing them to fall back. Jeremie whirled on an encroaching Creeper, jumping out of the way and digging a knife into its hitpoint. It exploded upon impact, the blow knocking him back.

"Looks like XANA's upgraded, too," Yumi said sardonically, throwing one of her fans to only chip the side of a second Creeper. "Damn it!"

But then she caught the weapon in the air with her telekinesis, guiding it back to the monster at an incredible speed. It bounced off the target, but there'd been enough momentum to cause a critical hit. She let out a breath, smiling as it disintegrated.

"That was awesome!" Sissi commended, taking out her staff. "Hey!" She looked up, addressing Astrid. "Does this mean my healing power doesn't have a cooldown period anymore?"

"It does, but we were able to shorten the length to ten minutes," the woman replied. "Now, come on — time's running out! You have to get to the key before you're crushed."

They looked up instinctively, watching in horror as the ceiling came crashing down around them.

"Look out!" Ulrich shouted, using his Super Sprint to knock Aelita out of the path of a falling block. The act caused him to be hit instead, ending in an immediate devirtualization.

"That's gotta hurt," Nico commented. He turned, coming face-to-face with a third Creeper, recoiling at the up-close and personal view of the monster. Narrowing his eyes, he slashed his sword through one of its tentacles, causing it to fall to the floor as he dodged another block that would've surely flattened him.

"You have to hit the eye!" Giana instructed, embedding her épée in a fourth assailant. She watched as it exploded, the impact knocking her to the side and almost off the edge of the core zone, hanging delicately over the abyss. "On top of its head, right above the opening with the laser!" She tried to pull herself back up, but couldn't get the grip right. Her weapon lay where the monster had been. "Help!"

"Super Smoke!" William ordered, weaving in and out of the falling blocks as the rest of their group slowly made their way through the core zone. "I've got—" He had to dodge out of the way of another falling block, putting him back at least ten meters.

Though it wasn't really _real_ , the exertion of holding herself up got to be too much. Giana was tired, and he was so far away, and there wasn't any possibility he'd make it in time.

"William!" she shouted. "I can't—"

And then she fell, knocked back by a laser from a surprise Creeper, falling into the void below.

"Giana!" William cried, racing to where she'd been seconds ago. He called up his sword, slashing it in a motion parallel to the floor, positioning himself in a firing stance. "I'm sorry," he whispered, casting a crescent of white light at her, watching as the terrified expression on her face disappeared in a silhouette of blue and white pixels.

If he weren't on Lyoko, he knew he would've been sick.

But he noticed she had left her épée, that it hadn't been devirtualized along with her. Willing his sword away, he picked up the weapon and fiddled a moment with the grip, the épée foreign in his grasp. Charging at the offending Creeper, he plunged the tip of the blade into its hitpoint, watching as it exploded. "Good riddance," he spat.

Her weapon disappeared. "I took the liberty of devirtualizing it," Astrid explained. "I hope that's alright."

He nodded, turning to smoke and taking off to find the others.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Nico demanded, once the group had finally reconvened. Odd activated the key, stopping the obstacles from falling, and they jumped as the elevator passed by.

"She was falling," Yumi said curtly, defending the boy. "He had no other choice than to devirtualize her; she would've been gone forever if he didn't."

They made their way out into the celestial dome, the interface appearing at the edge of the platform. "Mantas at two o'clock!" Odd said, positioning his arm to shoot as soon as the nests hatched.

"What am I looking for?" Aelita asked, swiping past access prompts and digging deeper into the inner-workings of Sector Five and XANA's code.

"It's a key, of sorts," Astrid explained. "You'll know it when you see it. It's sort of like a kill switch."

Anthea had reappeared with Giana, the brunette sliding down the wall next to Ulrich. The boy let out a pained groan, burying his face in his hands. The recovery process from his devirtualization hadn't been as quick as he'd anticipated.

"Don't get crushed," he mumbled.

"Don't get hit by William's sword," she shot back.

"Been there, done that. It sucks."

"They're here, by the way," Astrid continued. "Exhausted, but here. They came back to us safely."

"Can we have our vehicles?" Odd called out. "It's easier to fight the Mantas if we're in the air with them."

"Yes, of course," Astrid replied. "Just give me a moment…"

All three vehicles materialized at the edge of the platform.

"Okay." Yumi turned to address the group. "Aelita, Jeremie, William — you stay here and protect the terminal. Sissi and I—"

"No," William interrupted, calling up his sword. "I can make long-range shots with my weapon. Nico can protect the terminal."

"I want to fight!" the boy protested.

"You will."

William jumped on to the Overbike, kicking it into high gear as he soared through the air, casting a beam of light at a Manta. The monster dodged, firing a laser at his vehicle instead. He started to fall, noticing Odd jump from his Overboard and dig his claws into the back of another Manta, the monster trying in vain to buck him off. William felt himself turn to smoke, his power guiding him back up along the side of the sphere, landing on the platform near the opening from the core zone. "We're having too many close calls!" he shouted, slashing a Creeper in half. "What's the status on that data?"

"I think I've almost got it," Aelita replied. "Just hold on a few more—"

"We don't have time!" Sissi protested, casting a burst of her healing power at Nico, who'd suffered two severe shots to the back from a Tarantula.

"I thought it wasn't supposed to hurt!" he called, reaching behind him to touch the spot where he'd been hit.

"XANA's upped his game!" Aelita said, narrowing her eyes. "If only—"

She was cut off, two Mantas firing their lasers at her in succession, causing her to devirtualize.

"AELITA!" Jeremie bellowed, racing to the spot where his girlfriend once stood. He jumped off the edge of the platform, landing on Odd's abandoned vehicle, stepping on the back half to speed up, knife drawn, heading right at one of the Mantas. Closing his eyes, he threw his weapon, only opening them to see the monster explode. The knife returned to his hand and he sheathed it, turning back around, evading lasers from the Manta that still had Odd on its back. "Odd! Jump!"

"I got this, Einstein!" he said, getting into a standing position so he was effectively surfing on the monster's back. Staring down at his feet, he readied his aim to fire, catching the enemy right in the center of its giant target. After it devirtualized, he landed in a sitting position on the Overboard, watching with amazement as Jeremie effortlessly piloted them back to the terminal. He let out a breath as they landed. "Good job."

The boy turned to Nico, who'd deployed a shield to deflect blows from another Tarantula and two more Creepers, protecting William as he worked at the terminal to complete Aelita's mission.

"I think I found it!" he exclaimed, initiating a transfer. "I'm sending it now!"

With the Mantas mostly taken care of, Yumi threw both of her fans at the Creepers, catching them both with a critical hit that wiped them out.

"Way to show them who's boss, Yumi!" Odd cheered.

"We got it!" Astrid announced. "I'm opening the northwest tunnel for you; you should come out in the Forest Sector and we'll materialize you from there." She smiled. "Great job, everyone. We're one step closer."


	37. Chapter XXXVII

**Chapter XXXVII**

* * *

"What the hell is happening?"

"Stress-baking. She did it with our mother every day during the week of the Marathon Bombing."

Yumi and Nico stood in the doorway to the kitchen, watching Giana as she examined a toothpick, satisfied with it having come out clean from a cake. Odd, meanwhile, was perched at the island, already halfway through a plate of biscotti.

"Odd, pass me that confectioners' sugar?" she requested in Italian, throwing the toothpick in the garbage.

"Hmm?" His mouth was full, but he gave a vague, confused gesture.

"Confectioners' sugar," she repeated again, this time in French. "We've been over this."

Nico took a seat next to Odd while Yumi leaned against the counter, having passed her friend the box of sugar. The older boy reached for a biscotti, but the blonde swatted his hand away before exchanging a glance. He shrunk back, letting him take what he wanted.

"It's been three days, and they still haven't made much headway with that data," the girl continued, focusing on the bowl of icing she'd been mixing. "Now it's the weekend, and we're stuck in this house—" She reached up into a cabinet, pulling down a hand mixer, dissatisfied with the spoon. "Where's the stupid—"

"Giana, take a deep breath," William suggested, coming into the room with Sissi right behind him. "You're tense, and I get it. Maybe we should… take a nap. Later."

He caught an icy glare from Nico, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Maybe I'll just shut up."

"I'm sure they'll find something," Yumi said, trying to be optimistic. "Jeremie and Franz headed back there today to do some more decoding while pretty much everyone else is off for the weekend. Maybe we could get lucky."

"You may be right," William agreed. He took out his phone. "I'm going to call Reese and see if she'll give me a lift over there — maybe I can be of some assistance."

"I'll go with you," Nico offered. "It's better than staying around here, anyway."

He furrowed his brow at the boy but jumped as the agent picked up on the other end. "Agent Brooks? … Yeah. Nico and I need a ride to the Agency. We're going to help Franz and Jeremie. … Okay. Thanks." He hung up. "She said to come out front — she's waiting across the street." He stole a glance at Giana, furiously mixing the frosting ingredients together, having given up on finding the correct attachment for the mixer. "Hey, we'll be—"

"Go," she interrupted, waving the spoon at them. "Save the world."

* * *

"We're getting nowhere!" Jeremie shouted, frustrated. He glared across the room at Franz from behind his monitor. They'd been working in one of the labs, trying to decipher the key William and Aelita had gotten from Sector Five. "If you would've just listened to my suggestions—"

"Enough!" the man bellowed, bringing his fist down on his chair's armrest. "Bickering won't get us anywhere either, Jeremie!"

"Oh, good," William said sarcastically, leaning against the door frame. "You're getting along for once."

Franz scoffed angrily. "William. Older De Luca."

"Nico," the boy corrected, sliding into a seat next to Jeremie. "Did you find anything useful?"

Jeremie adjusted his glasses. "Well, thanks to Astrid, we know it's a kill switch. But we haven't figured out how to use it."

"Hmm." William furrowed his brow, leaning between the duo to examine the lines of code. "What if—"

Nico shot up from his chair. "Somebody's coming." He ran to the door, slamming it shut and jamming his thumb into the lock.

"Nobody can just _waltz in here_ ," Franz pointed out. "This is the CIA — there are layers upon layers of security measures!"

"Listen," the boy started, taking a defiant stance, "my powers only work if there's an enemy approaching. I know what I'm feeling."

Jeremie leaned back. "That means…"

"Someone's not who they say they are," William finished.

Nico stole a glance out the door's window to catch their suspect as they walked by. "Anyone know her?" he whispered, holding up his phone to show a blurry photo he'd snapped.

A tall redhead sauntered down the hall, unaware of their presence as she held her badge up to a reader and let the retinal scan do its thing, accessing a restricted portion of the building. The door closed, cutting her off from view.

"No," William said, scrutinizing the picture. "But we need to tell the Director."

* * *

"You're positive?"

The boys stood in Agent Paulson's office while Franz had offered to stay behind, wracking his brain for an easy way to decipher the data they'd mined. The woman made a face as she examined the photo.

"Harper Burgess." She let out a breath. "She's fairly new — only started working for us about two months ago." Staring up at them, she addressed Nico: "Mr. De Luca, are you _absolutely sure_ you sensed her as a threat?"

They were all speaking French mainly to benefit Jeremie, as his English was far from perfect, though the Director had learned fourteen different languages over the course of her studies. It was just like a typical day for her.

"Yes, ma'am," he responded, taking his phone back. "We saw her access a door at the end of our hall, then disappear. We tried to follow, but—"

"We don't have clearance, obviously," Jeremie interrupted. "And I can't teleport unless I've been there before or have an absolute clear idea of where I'm going."

The Director picked up the phone on her desk and pressed a button. "Carl? We have an incident on Sublevel Four. I need your team to apprehend Agent Burgess and bring her into custody. … Thank you." She focused on the trio again. "They're taking care of it. One of our agents also has orders to extract Mr. Schaeffer if things get violent."

"You couldn't just set off an alarm or something?" William questioned.

She shook her head. "This way is much more discreet. If we'd issued an alert, she'd probably assume we were coming after her anyway and run." She stood. "Trust me, Mr. Dunbar: There are thousands of places to hide in this building. Especially if you don't want to be found."

* * *

"You're supposed to be keeping us safe!" Franz snarled.

An emergency meeting had been called after the arrest of the rogue agent. Sebastian fidgeted, cautiously placing a tray of tea and pastries on a low table in the Director's office. Odd reached furtively for a scone, cut off by a stern glare from Yumi. He quickly regained his composure, huffing a sigh.

"This is _not our fault_ ," Avery pressed. She took a seat on the leather sofa between Anthea and Sissi. "Agent Burgess passed all of our required screenings and tests and was admitted into the Agency in our technical department. She didn't have the skillset to handle the supercomputer but was instead assigned as a liaison for Astrid's team. That is, until Mr. De Luca sensed her as a threat."

"It was the same feeling I got back home, with that guy from the Men in Black," he supplied, slumping back into his seat. "Does she know anything about our mission?"

"They're questioning her now," Sebastian replied. "She's admitted to being in allegiance with them, but other than that, Agent Montgomery has relayed to us that she's being uncooperative."

"What a surprise," Ulrich spat. He raised his voice to a normal volume. "What now? Do we continue and infiltrate their headquarters via that Replika? They'll probably be expecting us at this point!"

"We don't know if she knows our plan," Sissi pointed out, standing. She started to pace. "So, if we can safely assume she's clueless, then I say we go ahead and do it."

"There's just one problem," Jeremie cut in. "We still haven't made any headway regarding that data from Sector Five."

"I think I know what it might be," Aelita said, quiet. Everyone turned — she squirmed a bit at the shift, fully aware of everyone's eyes on her. "Dad — don't you remember anything? What about the Keys to Lyoko?"

"XANA took them from you," the man said simply. "You know as well as I that there was no backup."

"But, what if… What if we take that string of data, and insert it as a virus into the mainframe of the Men in Black's operations? Like what we've been doing to the Replika supercomputers?"

"That sounds like it'd be too easy," Jeremie countered.

"Maybe not." Aelita stood. "Think about it: How did we defeat XANA last time? I mean, sure — your multi-agent program attacked him in the end, but we started off by killing the Replika supercomputers."

"It's almost like we've come full-circle," Yumi said.

"Well, we have to do something," Giana pressed. "Can't we go now? Do the recon mission?"

The Director looked around at the group, weighing their options: They could wait for Carl and his team to finish the interrogation, or they could get ahead of the game and gather the information they'd need to wage the final assault.

"Yes," she said finally, after a few moments of silence. "But, it's only to gather information. We'll piece together what we have afterwards. Then we'll move on to planning the attack."

* * *

The team met in the lab with the supercomputer, waiting for the all-clear from Astrid to start the virtualization process.

"Good luck, kids," Jim said, accompanying them to the lower level. "Show these terrorists who's boss."

Jeremie relaxed the slightest bit, turning to face his teacher as he paused in front of an open scanner. "Thanks, Jim. We'll be back before you know it."

The man nodded, taking Vega's leash from Giana and leading the dog out of the room with him, back up into the lab with the others.

"Now, remember," Astrid started, her voice filling the surround as the scanner doors closed, "this is purely a _recon_ mission. You will not act, you will only observe."

"Why is everyone so hell-bent on drilling that into our heads?" Sissi demanded.

"The security parameters for this particular base have been disabled, and so far we've been unable to hack into their system and restore them." The woman paused a beat. "That means the Men in Black agents will be able to see you."

They were silent as she rattled off the virtualization commands, and continued to remain so when they landed in the arena of Sector Five.

Yumi spoke first: "We're not invincible."

"That's right," Jeremie said glumly. "It'll be us, there, in the flesh. So, if we die…"

"It's over," Aelita finished.

A glance passed between the De Luca siblings, Nico gesturing for his sister to go ahead of him into the Core Zone.

"You won't die," Franz asserted. "Your weapons and powers will remain intact, which is something they won't be counting on, assuming that rogue agent didn't give them the slip."

"Just try to stay hidden," Astrid interjected.

Giana rippled back into view, the corners of her mouth turning upwards into the slightest smile as she dug the tip of her épée into a Creeper, devirtualizing it. "Luckily, hiding is something I'm good at."

* * *

Both Skids anchored to the tower in a Replika of Sector Five, as the team was transferred from their positions. Aelita looked around at her friends, getting their bearings.

"We can't all go," she said, taking charge.

"Think carefully," Franz instructed. "You all have powers that can be useful in this situation." He paused. "However, I strongly recommend taking De Luca."

Nico furrowed his brow. "Me?"

"Your sister."

"Does he even know our names?" Giana muttered in Italian. Nico shrugged.

"He's right," Jeremie said, catching himself off-guard with the agreement. He took a step forward. "I'm going too. With our combined powers, I think we'll be okay."

Aelita turned to Yumi. "You should join them."

The girl offered a single nod, going to stand by the duo.

"Odd?" Jeremie questioned. "We could use your shield."

"At your service, Einstein," the boy responded, offering a salute as he came to stand on the other side of Yumi.

"Okay." Jeremie looked at his team, gripping the handle of one of his daggers. "Beam us up, Astrid."

Nico brandished his sword once the group had been transferred. "And what are we supposed to do?"

"That," William said simply, pointing straight ahead. A conglomerate of Creepers advanced on them, shooting their lasers at the Skids. He called up his own sword, glancing back at his girlfriend's brother. "You said you wanted to fight. Now's your chance."

* * *

"Ground Team, do you copy?"

Astrid's voice came in loud and clear through each of their earpieces as the kids looked at their new surroundings, plotting a course that would be conducive to entering the complex. A tall, steel and glass structure loomed in front of them, masquerading as a typical government building. But they knew better.

Giana blinked her eyes rapidly, adjusting to the sensation of her brain having to process the ability to see at a normal range, versus her limited amount of sight when not in her Lyoko form. She always found these missions jarring and uncomfortable, and usually preferred to protect the Skid.

She almost felt queasy. "I hate this," she grumbled in English, bracing herself against the stone wall that ran the length of most of their street.

"Are you alright?" Yumi questioned, eyeing her with concern.

Astrid was about to offer up a response, when Giana interrupted her: "Let's split up," she suggested, now in French. "Cover more ground." She paused, composing herself. "Odd, come with me. Jeremie, you and Yumi go in from the left. If anything happens, Astrid can pull us out of here."

"Be careful. Mr. Schaeffer is monitoring the situation in Sector Five so I can focus all my resources on you." Astrid paused, taking a breath. "I'm sure I don't have to remind you that if you're injured on this mission, you won't magically heal when reappearing in our scanners."

Giana grabbed Odd's arm with her left hand, reaching behind to grab her épée with her right, pulling it from its sheath. "Then we'll just make sure they don't." The duo faded, completely invisible, as Jeremie squirmed slightly and Yumi crossed her arms, wary.

"What if they have heat-seeking goggles? Or if the security cameras somehow pick you up?" she demanded.

"Odd has a shield," the brunette countered.

The older girl let out an agitated breath through her nose, turning to face the boy with the glasses. "Jeremie: Can you bounce us back here if we get into trouble?"

He nodded. "Affirmative."

"Good." She took his hand. "Let's go."


	38. Chapter XXXVIII

**Chapter XXXVIII**

* * *

"There's a door right here!"

Odd pulled Giana with him, toward a marked side entrance into the complex. A camera had been mounted and trained on the door, and there were scanners placed on the wall outside, possibly for access badges.

"We should wait," the girl argued. "We're invisible, remember? We just need to squeeze past when someone enters or exits the building."

He started to whine. "But that could take—"

As luck would have it, two agents pushed the door open, leaving through the side and turning away from them, heading toward a parking lot out back. They sounded bitter.

Giana stopped the door from closing all the way with her foot, pulling Odd with her. Once inside, they found themselves in a hallway with marble floors, whitewashed walls, and cameras stationed every few meters.

"Jeremie and Yumi are in for a lot of trouble," she said grimly. She tilted her head upwards, addressing Astrid: "Can we send you a visual somehow?"

"No need," the woman responded. "Agent Dean has already hacked into their security feed. We can't see you, but we know where you are."

"What about the others?" Odd questioned.

"Agent Frost disabled the security measures on an entrance to the opposite wing. Mr. Belpois and Miss Ishiyama got in safely before they were turned back on." She paused. "However, the mission is resting more on you, Miss De Luca, and your precious ability to stay hidden."

"Great." The girl wielded her épée. "No pressure."

They turned a corner and almost careened right into a slender woman with unnaturally silver hair and dark blue eyes. Her complete attention was focused on the male agent next to her.

Giana felt as if she'd been slapped across the face as she and Odd pinned themselves against the wall, waiting for them to pass.

"I can still see you," he whispered. "Even though we're invisible—"

"That man," she breathed, stunned. "He's— He's Xander's father."

Odd tensed. "Astrid?"

"Agent Liam Emerson," she responded. "Moved to the D.C. area and started working for the Men in Black two years ago. Ex-husband of—"

"Jane Emerson," Giana finished.

"Actually, she goes by her maiden name now," Astrid corrected. "Jane Rausch." She frowned, realization dawning as she read through the file. "Ah. I see — this is _that_ Liam Emerson. Father of—"

"We know," Odd said quickly, cutting her off. "Who's the woman?" They started tailing the adults from about ten meters behind.

"Vivian Greene," Astrid replied. "She's to the Men in Black, what Director Paulson is to us."

"Well, then it's a good thing we're following her," Giana said, quiet.

They rounded a few more corners and spotted Jeremie and Yumi, hiding in the shadows of a dark supply closet. The foursome continued to follow Liam and Vivian as they made their way through a network of hallways, finally stopping at an elevator bank.

"No special access required," Jeremie whispered. "That's a good sign."

"None of you are coming up on the building's security feed," Astrid commented. "Strange…" She arched an eyebrow. "Miss De Luca?"

"Odd's the only one latched on to me," she replied, shrugging. "Unless…" She turned to the boy. "Let go."

He did as he was told, holding his breath for fear that he'd become visible and appear right in the view of a nearby camera.

Nothing happened.

The elevator door that the agents had gotten into, which had been in the process of closing, suddenly stopped. It was all the way across the lobby, Yumi having barely expended any energy on it.

She relaxed her focus ever so slightly, and the doors were still jammed. "We're getting stronger," she whispered.

* * *

They ran, slipping into the elevator just as Director Greene was coming to her wit's end, unable to make the doors close by pressing the corresponding button. Huddling into the corner, the group watched with baited breath as Liam hit the button for Sublevel Three, straightening his tie.

"Did you hear from Agent Burgess?" Vivian questioned, tapping her fingers idly against the back of her tablet.

Liam rolled his eyes, removing a box of cigarettes from his pocket. "They caught her."

She punched the side of the wood-paneled elevator. The doors opened, and they sauntered out into another maze of marble hallways, the kids still on their tail.

"Damnit!" she shouted, angrily swiping her card against an access door to enter into a lab. "We were _this close_ to her getting that information — we had it at our fingertips! And the moron goes and gets herself _caught_? Unbelievable!"

Liam actually flinched. "Ma'am—"

"No." She let out a breath. "Go. If you're going to smoke, take it outside. And don't come back until you have good news."

Turning on his heel, he retreated out of the laboratory, right past the kids. Jeremie, though, kept his eyes trained on the woman. Something just wasn't right.

"Sloane!" she barked. A petite woman with black hair appeared out of seemingly nowhere, holding an almost identical tablet. "I need a scanner."

Sloane nodded once, directing the woman down a narrow hall off to the side of the lab, and into a room that housed three scanners similar to the others the group had always dealt with. Vivian waved her off, making sure she was gone before stepping into the one in the middle.

Jeremie had to try not to let out a gasp as he saw the XANA symbol pulsating on the woman's forehead.

* * *

The scanner closed, and XANA immediately felt reenergized as the halo of white light moved up and down, giving him enough power to maintain his host's body without anyone noticing that she wasn't, exactly, who she said she was.

He'd picked her as his target because the Men in Black had always been on his side, in a way. He only wanted world domination, and this group was a sure-fire bet to achieving that goal. Plus, they were always in the mood to terrorize people, and although XANA had initially launched his attacks in France to learn more about the human world and its mechanics and inhabitants, he began to hate them all the same: They were too blissfully unaware of the power they all had, not pushing themselves to their full potential.

So, once he'd made himself known again back in October, and had gained enough strength to possess humans again, he sought out Vivian Greene. And he was able to completely take her over, encompassing her entire body and soul, and brain, to the extent of wiping her out completely. After studying her life and mannerisms closely enough to mimic them on his own, he felt confident enough to defeat what was left of her, as she'd always been too weak to fight back. Strong-willed, of course, but weak.

Since he now lived as a human in Vivian's body, once he solidified his own form, he'd no longer need her, and she'd drop dead as soon as he left. And they were coming quite close to the sequence needed for him to assume an identity without needing a host body.

The humans, of course, still weren't aware of the development in his plan — they were working hard to help him, but they still thought they were interacting with the _real_ Vivian Greene.

She'd been long gone.

* * *

"This is completely out of the question!" Anthea snapped.

"We have no other options!" Franz barked.

The woman shot up from the leather chair she'd occupied, leaning forward and getting right in her husband's face. "In case you've all forgotten," she snarled, "they are _children_! We cannot, under any circumstances, expect them to commit a murder!"

"That woman is possessed by XANA," Avery countered, ever so calm. "He's always been too weak to take on an embodiment of his own — therefore, he needs a host. Who better than the leader of the Men in Black?" She paused, eyeing the couple warily. "Somehow, he was able to conduct this plan without having to activate a tower, something our tech team is working to find information about. If push comes to shove, and he's too powerful, they'll have to kill Miss Greene."

"I won't do it," Anthea stated, crossing her arms. "I can't."

"Surely you more than anyone can appreciate what we have to do," Franz said, level. "I mean, those monsters held you _hostage_ , for God's—"

"Don't you _dare_ use that against me!" she cried. "They tortured me, Waldo — for information that _I didn't even have_! I lied my way out of there, and it's a miracle I made it out in one piece!"

"I thought you knew something," Jim said quietly. "That you just told them you didn't."

"At the time, I only knew Waldo was thinking about building Lyoko as a refuge," she admitted. "But, of course, I couldn't let _them_ know that." She paused a beat, locking eyes with her husband. "I have no idea how they found you and Aelita in France."

She couldn't see his eyes behind the dark glasses, but for once, Franz was so emotional he almost cried. "I never blamed you."

They heard a thump. Avery, who'd been occupying the sofa, was on her feet with a weapon in her grasp faster than the blink of an eye. Anthea, on the other hand, sank back down into her chair, resting her head in her hands. "Giana, we know it's you."

What they weren't expecting, was for the other girls to materialize around the brunette. Sissi and Yumi held her up from the exhaustion of overexerting her powers.

Aelita moved her attention to her cell phone. "Jeremie. They caught us."

All five boys materialized in the room immediately, all at once, near the door. Nico and Ulrich steadied Jeremie, facing the same level of fatigue. He was led over to the sofa, slumping down next to the brunette, who'd buried her face in a toss pillow.

"Y-you can project your powers?!" Franz stammered, jumping to his feet.

"It's exhausting," Jeremie mumbled. Giana gave a half-hearted noise in agreement.

"You heard everything," Anthea realized. It wasn't a question.

Yumi nodded, leaning against the Director's desk, between Ulrich and Odd.

"You want us to kill XANA," William said simply. He relaxed, going over to stand by Giana, Jeremie, and Nico. "Good. I've been waiting for this."

" _You?"_ Aelita spat. "That thing—"

"Trapped you for ten years," Sissi finished. She rested a hand on the girl's shoulder. "We know."

"I was going to say he made our lives a living nightmare," she replied, crossing her arms.

"What we do know," Avery pressed, ignoring them, "is that Liam Emerson is the second-in-command to their operations."

Nico stood, running to the door. "I'm gonna kill him."

Jim grabbed him around the middle, lifting the boy effortlessly in the air, and placing him down before blocking the exit. "Sit _down_ , De Luca."

"Don't," Giana protested weakly.

"Xander is that man's _spawn_ , Gia," her brother said. "He—"

"Does he happen to look like this?"

Sebastian held up a tablet with security footage of Liam and Xander, walking side-by-side through the Men in Black's complex. The room immediately went silent.

"What?" Giana asked, sitting up. She looked to Sebastian. "Give me that."

"Giana—" William warned, trying to compose himself.

"No," she said, firm. "Agent Collins?"

Biting his lower lip, the man handed the device over. Holding it about an inch or two from her face, she examined the footage on a loop, gripping the tablet so tight she thought she was going to break it.

Once the realization sunk in, she hurled it across the room like a Frisbee, only to be caught by Ulrich and his speed. Darting from her position, she squeezed past Jim, ignoring everyone calling for her to stop, running through the top floor of the building blindly, having left Vega in the office.

Timing was on her side as an elevator door opened, two agents heading to speak to the Director regarding the rogue agent. She shoved past them, jamming her thumb against the large button for the lobby. She could hear her heartbeat but felt as if she couldn't breathe, as the elevator took an eternity to make its descent.

Once at her destination, she ran straight ahead and kept on going, past the security checkpoints and out the front door. She practically tripped down the half flight of stairs outside, the chilly air not making itself known to her from the adrenaline.

Falling into a sitting position against the base of a large, stone fountain, it was there that she felt safe enough to cry. She buried her face in her hands, moving her arms up to eventually tangle her fingers in her hair.

She let go, gripping the side of the stonework and leaning her head back. The stream of the fountain sounded so far away as the shock started to wear off, and it was then she realized just how cold it was. And how sick she felt. But she couldn't move — she could only focus on one thing.

 _He's alive,_ she told herself. First in English, then French and Italian.

She focused enough in the light of the buildings and street lamps surrounding her to notice that someone had approached her.

It was Nico, his grey Nike sneakers all too familiar.

She couldn't see it, but he had a look of complete and utter distress on his face. He said something, probably into his phone or watch, about how he'd found her and that it was okay. Then he sat down next to her, far enough to give her space but close enough that she knew he wasn't about to leave.

"I'm going to kill him," he said again, this time calmer and almost matter-of-factly.

She knew he wasn't referring to Liam.

"We went to his _funeral_ , Nico," she said finally, her voice breaking. "His dad was there, and—" Something clicked. She stood, kicking the ground. "Tori and Jack saw him! The day of that hockey game against Tabor Academy — Xander was _dead_! Jack said he wasn't breathing and the paramedics pronounced it at the scene!"

"I don't know who they buried, Giana," her brother said evenly. "The wake was closed-casket, remember? But he's very much alive." He scowled. "For the time being."

She turned on him as he stood and offered his arm to lead her back into the building. "Don't talk like that," she snapped.

"William's already agreed to help me," he continued.

"Nico—"

They stopped. He spun abruptly, standing at arms' length and grabbing her shoulders. "You're my sister. He hurt you. No one's allowed to do that."

"His dad hurt him the same way," she countered.

"His dad probably brainwashed him by now!" he spat.

She pushed her brother away, throwing her arms up, stalking back up the steps and inside. "You can't just _kill someone_!"

"But you didn't offer up the same reaction when the adults told us we have to kill Director Greene!"

"She's possessed by XANA!" she shouted. "I don't _want_ to do it — she's still a person!"

He leveled with her. "Okay, fine. But if he's caught in the line of fire, I'm not saving him."

"Sounds good." She shouldered a door open after the scanner accepted their retinal IDs. "Because neither am I."

He felt some part of him relax ever so slightly. "Do you think anyone knows? Jack, or their mom or something?"

"I saw Jack and Tori together when Aelita and I destroyed a Replika supercomputer under Boston City Hall." She shrugged. "They looked like they were on a date. I doubt he knows about Xander."

"Tori seemed like she was still with Bryce when we were at their house," he commented.

"She obviously hasn't broken up with him yet." She stopped abruptly. "Wait. Xander's alive."

Nico furrowed his brow.

"That means…" She forced herself to say what she'd feared most: "The specter that attacked me in France wasn't a ghost made up by XANA." She started to feel lightheaded again. "He was possessed. It was _actually him_."


	39. Chapter XXXIX

**Chapter XXXIX**

* * *

"I don't understand." Yumi paced, her hands balled into fists. "Why would someone fake their own death?"

Nico buried his head in his hands. "I attended that bastard's wake and funeral."

"The Agency's trying to figure that out," Jeremie said glumly. "They could've very well just buried an empty casket in the ground."

"People think this kid is dead!" Sissi shouted incredulously. "He has a family who have _no freaking clue_ that he's alive and well!"

"We can't tell them," Ulrich said sharply. "You heard what Avery said: No one can know about this until we defeat XANA."

"The Men in Black will be locked up once we defeat XANA!" she protested.

"Let them rot in prison!" Aelita shouted. She stood from her place at the kitchen island. "They held my mother hostage and forced my father and I into hiding! And then they found us, on more than one occasion, and almost killed us! They _always_ find us!"

Ulrich snapped to attention, his eyes trained on the archway from the den. Vega and Kiwi had converged on the space, sniffing, wagging their tails.

Sissi calmed down enough to also notice the dogs. She arched an eyebrow. "Giana?"

Sure enough, the girl rippled back into view. Dark circles were visible under her eyes, and her hair had been pulled up into a messy bun. Her clothes were rumpled, as if she'd just woken from a nap.

She let out a breath, gliding to the fridge on autopilot. Filling a glass with water from the filter, she addressed the group bitterly: "What good is being invisible if everyone knows you're there?"

Odd and William entered the room, the older boy clutching an older-model Samsung phone while the younger one was munching on an apple, Nico's skateboard under his other arm. Giana, after taking a long sip of water, brushed past them and left the room without another word.

"I don't think she slept last night," Sissi said, slumping into one of the bar seats next to Aelita.

"I just got hung up with my father," William announced. "Agent Brooks gave me a burner phone — she wants us to go outside and destroy it. Anyway, he said the validity of the restraining order against Xander depends on its wording." He paused, frowning. "He also doesn't practice the American legal system, so there may be some differences."

"So, there's no way of telling if it's still in effect unless we get a copy," Nico surmised. He looked to the boy. "Give me that phone. I'm gonna call our lawyers."

Yumi arched an eyebrow. "Your family has lawyers?"

"Our father owns a multibillion-dollar tech company," he said, punching in the number for Kennedy & Ascher. "They're his more than anyone's, but we needed _someone_ to settle that order in court." He paused as the line rang, addressing the person on the other end in English. "Hello, I'd like to speak to Nathan Ascher. … Thank you."

"I don't believe this," Jeremie mumbled.

Nico ignored him — the blonde could barely understand him anyway. "Hi, Nate. … Good. Would you be able to send me a digital copy of Giana's Order of Protection?"

William tensed, turning to look out the kitchen window.

Nico smiled. "Thanks! Tell Carly we say hi." He paused. "And, please, don't say a word about this to our parents. … Thank you. I appreciate it. Take care." He ended the call and stood from his spot at the island, heading to the back door. "Come on. Let's trash this thing."

"Take the SIM card out first," Jeremie reminded them. "It's better to destroy that separately."

"While you guys figure that out," Sissi started, leaving the room, "I'm going to check on her."

Yumi and Aelita joined her, the trio quietly slipping up the stairs.

* * *

"Please talk to us?" Sissi pled.

Giana was facedown with her head buried in her pillow. Vega had padded into the room and jumped up to join her, taking up space near the edge that forced the girl to be wedged against the wall.

Yumi scratched the dog behind the ears. "Come on," she said softly. "We want to help."

The brunette sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Okay. Fine." She adjusted her position so she sat cross-legged, as the trio crowded her.

Vega jumped down and left the room.

"Take your time," Aelita said.

"Xander was dead." She leaned back against the wall. "Obviously I was upset. But then I got over it, eventually, because I realized he was no longer around to hurt me. Even with the court order, I was still paranoid. I was living in a constant state of fear." She shot up and started pacing. "But then I find out he's very much _not dead_ , and, what's more, he's working with the enemy! And I don't even know if that restraining order is still valid!" She threw her hands up. "He and his father are happily assisting XANA, meanwhile his mom and brothers think he's _dead_!" She was screaming now. "I just want him gone! I was finally happy, I'd finally accepted everything that happened, and now here we are — _he's alive and I hate him_!"

Her shoulders slumped, and she felt that weight crushing her again, like she couldn't breathe. She flopped back on to her bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

"I'm just so _tired_."

* * *

"Giana."

A pillow hurled across the room at Nico, who stood in the doorway, stoic.

He addressed her in Italian: "Oh, come on. Get up."

She made an annoyed, disgruntled sound, but complied nonetheless.

"We're going to the Agency." He stopped, giving her a once-over. "You look like hell."

"Shut up," she snapped, undoing the bun in her hair. She dug out a fresh outfit from the small closet she shared with Sissi. "Get out."

He did as he was told, stepping into the hall while she shut the door and changed. He continued his spiel, switching to French. "Nate sent me your Order of Protection. Some lawyers at the CIA are looking at it and agreed to meet with us." He paused. "William also asked his dad, but he wasn't able to offer much assistance — it all depends on the wording of the order."

She relaxed a little as she exited the room, heading downstairs to put on her coat and shoes and ready the dog. "Okay. Good." She let out a breath. "Great."

"It'll be fine," he said. "Everyone else is coming, too — William and Jeremie are going to keep researching with Franz, since he hasn't left the lab all day."

"And the others?"

"For moral support," Odd said lightly. "Plus, staying around here all the time is getting really old."

* * *

"Hm."

They sat in a conference room, one of the lawyers reading over a printed copy of the restraining order while the others looked on with their tablets or laptops. Giana let out a sigh, impatient.

Irene, one of the head lawyers, looked up from her paper. "It's not in effect."

Giana practically fell out of her chair. "But— How—"

Jax, a younger, male lawyer, leaned forward and placed his tablet on the table. "Miss De Luca—"

Nico banged his fist on the table, standing abruptly. "Son of a—"

His sister cut him off. "What am I gonna do?"

"Well." Irene stood, placing the order on the table. "Unfortunately, we're in a bit of a tough situation given he's legally dead and no one can know about this. So, as of now, the best course of action would be…"

"To use your powers to their fullest extent and avoid him at all costs," Tamara, another lawyer, finished. She cast her gaze to her laptop.

"You've got to be _kidding me_!" The brunette scowled, jumping to her feet. "You're the top lawyers for the CIA, and _this_ is the best you can come up with?!"

Jax fumbled. "Miss—"

She shook her head. "Fine. I'll listen to you. For now." She motioned for Vega to lead her toward the door. "But you need to come up with a better solution!"

Nico followed her, without giving the adults a second glance. "What do you need?" he asked, once they were out of earshot.

She quickened her pace. "I need to kick someone's ass."

* * *

Sebastian had found a poor intern for her to spar against.

"This is hard to watch," Sissi said, leaning back in her chair. She gave Nico a sidelong glance. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Just let her go," he said simply.

They watched as the intern, oblivious to the girl's powers, struggled against what looked like an invisible force to the naked eye.

"Jeremie?" Aelita called. "Switch our view so we can see their heat signatures."

The boy offered a single nod, quickly accessing the correct sequence of commands at the terminal. Immediately their view changed, and they were able to see the brunette hurl a throwing knife at the intern — Tobias — as he expertly spun out of the way. The weapon lodged itself in the wall.

William stood. "I'm going in there."

Ulrich jumped to his feet. "I don't think—"

But it was too late. The boy had turned to smoke, phasing through the wall and coming out on the other side, dodging a flurry of limbs as Tobias and Giana grappled with each other. It still looked like he was fighting air, kicking and punching at nothing. She was able to knock him away with a knee to the stomach, taking a step back and reassuming a fighting stance.

William held his hands up. "Giana," he said calmly, addressing her in English. "Breathe."

She faded back into view, clad in workout clothes and her hair in a bun. She still held her fists up as she stepped back toward the wall of weapons, carefully extracting an épée.

Tobias stood, his expression hardening. "Alright. You want to fence? Fine."

"You both need protective gear!" Nico protested.

The older boy ignored him. "There's no hitting to the face, right?"

"The entire body is a valid target," the girl explained coolly.

William sucked in a breath. "I don't think I want to be in here for this." He turned to smoke and left, reclaiming his spot next to Odd. Jeremie had disabled the room's heatmap; the group now watched Tobias take a second épée down from the wall and flick his wrist once, testing it.

"Have you ever fenced before?" Giana inquired, scrutinizing him.

"Only with a foil," he said evenly. "I know it's similar to this though. I've also used the sabre in a few matches."

Nico leaned forward in his seat. "Fence!"

They bowed before beginning a sort of boxing bounce step, weapons poised. Tobias lunged forward, the tip still facing the floor. But Giana was quick, touching her épée with his in a parry to knock it to the side. She turned and jabbed, her tip hitting him in the arm.

"Touch!" Nico announced. He'd watched enough of her matches to know basic protocol.

Tobias winced upon contact. Neither of them wore anything remotely resembling a standard fencing uniform, and the tip of the blade was sharp. They did an about-face and widened the distance between them to start the next round. Eyes narrowed, he tightened his grip, leaning into the next jab with more force than he'd intended. But his épée was angled too high, and Giana managed to duck out of the way and avoid a stab in the eye.

"Watch it!" Aelita and William scolded.

The boy's posture stiffened and he wavered for a moment, but then regained composure. The two assumed the en garde stance before he jabbed his arm so the weapon caught her in the side, right below her ribs.

"Touch!" Nico said, tense.

They did another about-face and came at each other once more. Tobias felt as if he were getting the hang of this particular weapon, even if the grip were foreign in his hand. All was going fine, until his opponent disappeared before his eyes.

"No fair!" he protested.

"Halt!" Nico ordered, narrowing his eyes. "Gia—"

Tobias felt a rush of air near him as Giana disobeyed her brother's order to stop, her weapon almost coming into contact with his ribcage. The girl faded back into view, and they continued their match, having backed themselves into a corner.

He was a full head taller than her — this shouldn't have been that difficult. But he saw Jeremie had set a three-minute timer, which was prominently displayed in the center of the wall opposite the weapons. They were tied, with only a minute left.

The girl blew a lock of hair out of her face as she took a step forward. He instinctively stepped back, their weapons hitting one another in a satisfying sound of metal-on-metal as they parried. This continued as they kept trying to make a touch but were blocked by their opponent. Eventually they ended up back in the center of the room.

The split second he used to turn and check the timer cost him the match, as Tobias felt the metal of Giana's épée hit him in the hip.

"Touch," Nico said, relaxing. The few seconds on the timer ran out, and he stood. "Put the weapons down. Giana, it's time for you to take a break."

She scowled. "Nico—"

"No." He slapped his palm against the reader outside the door, granting him access to the training room. "Let's go talk to the Director. I think I have an idea."

* * *

"You're proposing a superhero fight club?"

A small smile crept across Avery's face, while Sebastian was practically bursting with excitement. Anthea wore a worried expression while Franz simply looked bored. Jim arched an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Like on that big crossover episode of _The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl,_ and _Legends of Tomorrow_ ," Nico explained. "I'm thinking, if we can all team up and fight together against a common enemy — your interns — then maybe we'll stand a chance the next time we infiltrate the Men in Black's headquarters."

"I think that's a splendid idea," the Director said smoothly. "However, we still haven't made headway on that information from Sector Five."

Franz cleared his throat. "Actually, I believe I may have found something." He stood, plucking a tablet from the coffee table and swiping to find the exact section of code. "This sequence here — we've been analyzing it as a kill switch, like something to insert into their supercomputer mainframe and wipe out XANA. However," —he adjusted his glasses— "what if we've been going about it all wrong? Since the head of their operations is currently possessed, and XANA's no longer really tethered to the supercomputer in France, I started looking at the data from a different angle."

It was then that Jeremie muttered something about not giving him credit. Avery ignored him. "And?"

"There was a part of the code that had been encrypted. So, I gave it to William and Jeremie to solve, and, with a little help from the De Luca boy and Aelita, they were able to crack it. We looked at the results and found _this_."

He held out the tablet to the room, gesturing to a section of extracted code that had been highlighted. When no one made a move to respond, Franz huffed an agitated sigh and was about to dive into an explanation, when Jeremie stopped him.

"It's a recipe for a virus," the boy said proudly, a smile spreading across his face. "We can use it to biomedically engineer a vaccine to kill XANA at the source, since he's already encompassing a human body."

"Won't that hurt her?" Odd questioned. "Director Greene?"

"We don't know." Jeremie stood, taking the tablet from Franz. "But it's assumed at this point that there's nothing left of her to hurt, other than her physical body." He frowned. "We just need to get close enough to administer it."

"That's going to be really difficult," Yumi reminded him. "You know they're going to have their best defensive strategy in place if we're going after their boss."

Avery stood and walked around to the front of her desk, addressing Jeremie. "If you can get that information to our lab technicians, they can start the engineering process. Sebastian." She turned to her second-in-command. "Round up all available interns and tell them to meet us in Sublevel Three. We're going to have ourselves a superhero fight club."


	40. Chapter XL

**Chapter XL**

* * *

Jim stood in the center of one of the training rooms, the teams on either side as they stood in fighting stances.

"Here are the rules," he said, crossing his arms. "All weapons and powers are permitted. I don't like it, but this includes guns — we need to simulate this practice as close as possible to what you might encounter at the Men in Black's headquarters. This entire sublevel has been blocked off and is deemed a warzone. There are no safe areas." He paused. "The fight commences on my mark and ends when all the participants of one team are defeated." He gave each of the teams a once-over. "There will be no intent to kill. Got that? If you're hit with a stun gun, you're out of the game."

They all nodded in varying degrees of understanding. A female intern narrowed her eyes, sizing up Jeremie as an easy opponent.

Jim turned to the boy. "Belpois?"

The blonde nodded, closing his eyes for a brief moment as he sent the man out of the room and into a surveillance center on the next sublevel up. From there, the adults were able to monitor their progress via the camera feeds.

Jim cleared his throat, speaking into a microphone. "Good luck. The fight starts now."

Immediately, the girl who'd been staring at Jeremie lunged forward, grabbing at his neck. He stumbled back but placed a knee to the stomach, knocking her away as he sucked in a few precious breaths of air. His glasses were bound to fall off and he cursed himself for not attempting contact lenses.

Odd deployed a shield as bullets and throwing knives came flying at him. Yumi stood in front of Aelita, blocking her from another intern with a gun, sending the bullets flying back at them with ease as she used her telekinesis.

"I need water!" Aelita shouted, landing a swift jab to a male intern. He came at her again and she punched him in the face, albeit clumsily. He stepped back and launched forward a third time, but she sidestepped and watched as he fell to the floor.

She spotted a water fountain in the hallway and gave a penetrating stare to Yumi, motioning to the device with her head. The girl nodded and got the message, as she used her power to hold down button for water while still sending bullets back at the interns.

Aelita focused, turning the stream to ice shards. She sent them flying at the girl who'd attacked Jeremie, using enough force to pin her up against a wall with her feet dangling. After a moment, Jeremie realized what had happened and threw a blast the intern's way, knocking her to the floor with the force of his stun gun. She was eliminated.

Exhaling through her nose, Aelita ran to the wall of weapons, picking a few throwing knives and stuffing them into her belt. She slipped down the hall and around a corner, unnoticed, until she was grabbed by Nico and pulled into a dark room.

He held his finger up to his lips to shush her. "Someone's coming," he whispered.

"You're bleeding." She gestured to his hand, keeping her voice low. They'd all been issued protective gear, but it left their hands and feet more vulnerable.

His gaze flickered to Sissi, who had also been standing with them in the shadows. Aelita hadn't even noticed her until she stepped forward and took Nico's hand, healing it.

She ran a hand through her short hair. "Where's your sister?"

Before he could answer, Giana faded into view, hands on her hips. She tilted her head to one side. "Need help?"

Nico glanced down at his stun gun before locking eyes with his sister. "Unlike you, our powers don't really help us in a fight."

"Then use your combat skills to beat the crap out of them," she said simply. "We can't hide here forever, Nico." She plucked the small stun gun from her belt and switched off the safety measures before disappearing from view. "I'm going back out there. Our best plan right now is to divide and conquer."

The trio watched the door fling open and heard the brunette quietly step out into the hall. Nico's sense of incoming danger had worn off, and he beckoned Sissi and Aelita to follow him.

Aelita brought her hand to her earpiece. "Jeremie?" she whispered. "You okay?"

She heard a vague grunt in response before the boy muttered, "Yeah. I managed to bring another intern."

"Great," Sissi said dryly. "Only thirty more to go."

Naturally, the opposing team had more members to simulate their next encounter with the Men in Black. The trio rounded a corner and spotted Ulrich fighting off two interns, one male and one female. He had a katana in one hand as he blocked their attempts to stun him.

Sissi ran forward and used all her strength to punch the girl so hard in the face, she fell to the floor. She scooped up her stun gun and stashed it on her belt with her own before pausing a beat — there was a part of her, however small, that felt bad for not offering to heal her. But she took the gun back out and issued a blast to stun her for good measure. She saw her name was Alexis Bello.

She whirled around to see that the other intern had abandoned Ulrich and was now advancing on her. Aelita swiftly produced a knife and threw it, catching the boy in his upper arm. He let out a scream and a string of expletives in English that caused Nico to fight back laughter. Even though the protective gear helped, a direct hit was still that, and it hurt.

The boy — they saw a nametag on his suit that said Brendon Warner — dislodged the knife and spun, pointing the weapon dangerously close to Aelita's face, some blood visible on the tip of the blade. She froze, her eyes widening as she took in the immediate threat.

Ulrich ran at her with his superhuman speed, knocking her out of Brendon's way so fast that they fell. Nico came up from behind and kicked the intern's feet out from under him before blasting him with a shot from his stun gun. He lay next to Alexis, a bruise already forming on her face from where Sissi's fist had landed.

"There," Nico said, putting his stun gun back in its holster. "Now it's less than thirty."

* * *

Giana had slipped through the maze of hallways unnoticed thus far, as she kept herself invisible and tried her hardest to keep quiet. She'd almost thought to abandon her shoes, but what good would that do in a fight?

Finally, she came upon an area near the west side of the building, where she could either go left or right. She heard a struggle to the left and decided to follow the noise, planning to sneak up on the assailants.

Stopping behind a corner, a short distance away from the action, she noticed Odd and Jeremie safely behind Odd's shield, though she knew without having to see it that Jeremie was undoubtedly scared out of his mind. Bullets were flying at them from at least four interns, trying to break through the forcefield.

Shortly after fading back into view, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Whirling around and pointing her stun gun at the intruder, she was relieved to see it was only William. He took a step back and put his hands up in surrender.

She stashed the gun away. "Sorry."

He smiled. "I would've done the same thing."

Poking her head back around the corner, she gestured to the fight. "We have to help them."

"I think I have an idea."

Without hesitating, he grabbed her hand and turned them both to smoke, reappearing behind two of the interns. He pressed the stun gun against one of their backs and fired, knocking the girl to the floor before she knew what hit her. Her stun gun skidded across the floor, where Giana picked it up, abandoning hers on her belt. Turning on her heel, she came face-to-face with Isaac, a male intern she'd seen around a few times. They were so close, she could see his piercing grey eyes widen as she landed a punch to the gut.

William squared off against Brynn, another intern who'd abandoned Jeremie and Odd in favor of a one-on-one fight. She dodged a kick but landed one of her own, knocking the boy back but not enough to make him fall. Regaining his balance, William charged forward and landed a swift uppercut to her jaw, knocking her head back. Brynn faltered, leaning against the wall for support as she brought both feet up and kicked him again, using her momentum to knock him on his side.

The shock wore off quickly and he scrambled to his feet. They both had their stun guns drawn, circling each other. He noticed movement in the corner of his eye: Odd had disabled the shield and Jeremie was now facing off against Sam — he wasn't quite sure whether they were male or female, but they made for a great opponent. Jeremie had run at them and knocked them to the ground, and the duo continued fighting in a flurry of limbs. Something cracked — the boy's glasses must've broken. Sam pulled out their stun gun and blasted him, the blonde going limp.

William almost forgot about Brynn as she approached from behind and managed to get him in a headlock. Odd, meanwhile, had taken on Sam, attacking them with a knife and blocking any shots back with his shield. William felt the butt of Brynn's gun against his neck as he clawed at her arms, trying to break free. He issued a back-kick that caught her in the kneecap, knocking them to the floor. She straddled him and moved her stun gun up to the side of his head.

"Such a shame, Pretty Boy," she mused. Her blonde hair framed her face and obscured most of his view as it fell to one side.

He felt her body go limp as someone blasted her. Taking a moment to push her off and scramble to his feet, he noticed Giana standing with her hand on one hip, stun gun in the other, as she blew at the tip before placing it back in its holster.

"She had to go," she said simply.

"Thanks." He stowed his gun away and took a long, remorseful look at Jeremie. "Damn it!"

The moment was short-lived, as Isaac, his face bruised and bloodied, had grabbed Giana and held his stun gun against her. "Move and I shoot," he threatened.

William and Odd froze, their weapons already drawn. Isaac backed away, heading around the corner as he dragged the brunette with him. He still held her tightly, and it was starting to hurt.

"Let go of me!" she shouted, trying to break away.

William appeared from a cloud of smoke behind the intern, hitting him in the side of the head with his gun. Isaac crumpled to the floor, Giana going down with him before she disentangled herself and stood. She fired once and stunned him.

Before they could say anything, Odd jumped in front of the couple. "Shield!" he commanded. Three more interns were closing in on them, guns drawn. He noticed Sissi and Yumi behind them, treading lightly as they each carried a weapon.

Yumi launched herself at Mason, a tall boy with glasses and shaggy hair. Knocking him to the floor, she pointed the tip of her dagger at his neck before abandoning the thought for a punch in the face instead. His head rolled to one side, but he landed a swift knee to her gut, knocking her off of him as she struggled to suck in a few breaths.

Sissi, meanwhile, drew a short sword and was parrying off against Anne, a girl who looked to be fresh out of college. Anne had fought to back Sissi up against a wall, lifting her chin up with her blade. Slowly and quietly, Sissi reached for the holster on her hip and drew her stun gun, all while staring menacingly into Anne's blue eyes.

Anne discarded the sword and drew her own gun, backing away from her opponent. Sissi fired but missed, instead almost hitting Yumi. Taking a breath, she aimed and fired once more, hitting Anne square in the chest. The girl fell and her gun landed a few feet away with a clatter. Yumi pocketed it, as Sissi's belt had been weighed down with too many weapons.

They turned to the trio, Odd having disabled his shield. "You guys alright?" Sissi asked.

"Jeremie's down," Giana replied. She paused. "Have you seen my brother?"

As if on cue, they heard someone screaming in the distance. William grabbed Odd and Sissi, turning the three of them to smoke and following the sound. Yumi and Giana ran side by side, the brunette projecting her invisibility to engulf them both.

They reached the fray in no time. Aelita had a knife embedded in her arm, and Nico had shot a round from his stun gun, catching two of their assailants and knocking them to the floor. A third advanced on them, her fists up, opting to duel him.

Sissi, having emerged from William's cover, grabbed Aelita and hauled her away, carefully extracting the weapon. She placed a hand on the wound while the other was on the small of her back, trying to keep her in place.

"Hold on," she coaxed. "Just give me a minute."

A white glow had emitted where her healing powers were doing their work, stopping the bleeding and closing the wound.

"I thought we were wearing armor!" Aelita shouted.

"They really went all out with this simulation," Sissi said bitterly. "It would've been better if we had comms units!"

"You know," Nico started, landing a kick to another intern's sternum, "superhero fight club sounded a lot more fun in my head, but I'd really rather be helping with the engineering process!"

Odd shot a female intern with his stun gun, knocking her out. "Do you think it would've gone any faster?"

"No," he said earnestly. "But I wanted to at least learn something! I applied to Columbia's Biomedical Engineering program!" He landed another kick, knocking the intern's feet out from under her. She drew her gun but fumbled, landing him the opportunity to get in a shot. She fell limp, stunned for the next few hours.

* * *

Avery leaned back in her chair in the surveillance center. "They're doing very well."

Franz nodded. "Jeremie's down."

Anthea wrung her hands together. "I still don't support this." She stole a fleeting glance at the monitors. "What's the score?"

The fight had been going on for a good few hours, with the sun having long set as the time ticked by. It was well into the evening.

"They got everyone except Griffin, Danvers, and Allen," the Director replied. She leaned forward, pointing at one of the screens. "I see them — they're back towards the training room. The kids have all reconvened near Jeremie and some of the other downed interns — they may be trying to do a headcount."

* * *

Ulrich crossed his arms. "How many were there initially?"

"Sissi guessed at least thirty," Nico recalled.

Yumi closed her eyes a moment, silently doing the calculations. She opened them and grabbed her stun gun. "There are three left. We have to find them."

"Anyone know how long this has been going on?" Giana questioned.

"At least a few hours," Odd replied. He looked to Aelita. "You sure you're okay, Princess?"

She nodded. "Thanks to Sissi. Though, I still don't understand why Jeremie didn't just teleport himself away from the fight."

"He tried to fend for himself. Then his glasses broke," William replied, leaning against a wall. Plucking his stun gun from its holster, he used it to gesture to Brynn. "I saw the whole thing while I was fighting her."

"Well, we need to get to the last three." Yumi drew her dagger again. "Let's split up: Sissi, you and Nico are with me. Odd and Ulrich, cover Aelita." She eyed William and Giana. "You two seem to fight well together. But I want you to use your powers to sneak up on them when they're least expecting it, alright? Stay hidden."

Giana faded from view, projecting her power on to William so he also disappeared. "Can do."

Yumi smiled. "Good. Let's comb this place. They have to be somewhere."

* * *

"You know," William started mischievously, "if we made out right now, no one would see us."

Giana hit his arm lightly. "Focus!"

The boy peeked into a dark room, lit only by the fluorescent lights in the hall. "Clear."

The brunette clutched her stun gun, its safety measures disabled. "This is starting to creep me out."

"I think we'll be—"

"Shhh!" She cut him off. "I thought I heard something."

They had been heading along a route back to the training room, where the battle began. The sound was subtle, but she still picked it out: It was muffled, like dropping something lightweight or stomping their foot. So, they inched closer. Though invisible, they had to remain quiet.

William took on a firing stance, scanning the area.

"Clear." He sighed, relieved. "It must've just been—"

The trio of interns they'd been hunting ran out of the training room, armed with more weapons, their stun guns poised. One of them fired a few blasts.

A tall girl with mocha-colored skin and hair in a tight knot beckoned her allies forward. "Remember," she warned, "that one girl can make herself and anyone she wants disappear."

"That's Elyse Griffin," William whispered. "I remember Agent Collins had said something about her having been included in the interrogation process of that woman your brother found from the Men in Black."

Giana nodded. "What's the plan?"

"We listen to Yumi," he said, though he didn't like it. "I think it's best if we stick to the original plan, catch them by surprise."

She pouted. "But I really want to shoot someone!"

He smiled. "Come on." Leading her into an open storeroom, they stood in the doorway. "Let's wait for the others."

It didn't take long. He spotted Ulrich, a blur, running on to the scene and firing two blasts with his stun gun, catching the male intern, Cody Allen, in the back. The older boy toppled to the floor as the two female interns circled their fallen friend with their backs to him, shooting at Ulrich as he darted away.

Odd stood hidden, his shield deployed, with Aelita next to him. She had found more water and now waited patiently with a large ball of ice hovering above her hand. "We're sitting ducks," she mumbled.

Odd took a fighting stance. "Sorry, Princess, but I'm trying to be cautious."

"You're _never_ cautious."

"Stand down!" Elyse ordered, brandishing her stun gun. "You can't hide behind a shield forever!" She startled, whipping around to be faced with a stun gun, levitating in midair. Firing a few shots around it, she scowled. "Show yourself!"

Yumi had stayed hidden with Sissi and Nico, taking refuge around a corner, but still with a good vantage point to see what she was doing with her powers. Her gun fired a few shots at Elyse, the intern dodging them expertly. She narrowed her eyes, pouring all of her energy into the firing of the weapon.

This was a little more difficult, manipulating a small weapon from such a great distance. Nico and Sissi held her up while Ulrich zipped around the perimeter, dodging blasts from the third intern, Colleen Danvers. Her dark red hair gleamed in the fluorescent lighting, covering her face as she spun to shoot another blast and try to catch him off-guard.

William stepped out into the hall, Giana following. "I think we should go," he said.

"Okay." She gripped her stun gun. "Remember, timing is key."

The girl let go of her power as they charged forward, bringing them both back into view. Firing multiple blasts from their stun guns, they ended up missing Elyse by a hair, whose eyes widened in terror as she assessed the oncoming threat.

She shouted to Colleen: "Fall back!"

Her companion didn't listen, forgoing her gun for a sparring match with Ulrich. Yumi had given up in an effort to save her energy, and her gun clattered to the floor. Odd let down his shield and slid into the fray, picking up the weapon and firing a blast at the redhead. It hit her just as she and Ulrich were at a draw, and she fell to the floor, paralyzed.

"Give up!" Aelita offered as the group surrounded the intern. "You're outnumbered."

Elyse lashed out, landing a kick to the girl's sternum and knocking her back. Sissi lunged forward, jumping on her back in an attempt to incapacitate her. While trying to pry her off, the older girl fumbled with her gun, pointing it right at Yumi, who had hers drawn as well.

They fired simultaneously, the blasts creating a beam where the two energies fought for dominance. Yumi held strong, gripping her gun with both hands as Elyse had finally managed to rid herself of Sissi, issuing a back-kick to send her stumbling to the floor. "You're good," she said.

For a split second, Yumi smiled. Then she spun on her heel and kicked Elyse's feet out from under her, sending the girl falling to the floor. She was still holding her stun gun; the blast beam was broken. The intern fired a shot at her opponent, catching her in the leg and knocking her out.

She scrambled to her feet, hands still on the trigger. She spun and aimed for Sissi, who'd been trying to escape but was just a second too late. She went down, her weapon falling from her grasp and sliding across the floor.

Odd fired three blasts simultaneously, catching Elyse square in the back. She fell, joining the ranks of the captured.

The boy slumped, dropping his weapon. He wiped a hand across his brow. "That was rough."

* * *

"You all did astoundingly," Avery commended.

It was well after midnight and the group had convened in her office, the effects of the stun guns having worn off on those who were shot.

The Director sat idly at her desk, perusing something on a tablet. "It seems our med team should have a physical entity virus ready by tomorrow. However." She put the tablet down and leaned back in her chair. "I want to wait a day or two before the assault."

"Why?" Franz demanded. "If the vaccine is ready, we should strike while they're vulnerable, before XANA can harness more power!"

"While today's simulation went better than expected," she started evenly, "they're just _kids_. Plus, I need to assemble a team in the field as backup and send some of my agents undercover as members of the Men in Black. There's protocol that needs to be followed and preparations to be made."

"But we'll have allies?" Aelita asked. "On the inside?"

The woman smiled. "Yes. You didn't think we'd let you go in alone, did you?"

Yumi fidgeted. "If you say we're just kids," she started, "then how can you trust us to complete the mission?"

"You're kids with extraordinary powers," Avery reminded her. "We'll also be sending you via the scanners, so you'll have full use of your Lyoko forms and abilities."

Aelita relaxed. "Great! It'll be nice to throw some Energy Fields around again."

Anthea stood. "It's getting late. Let's go home."

Avery joined her, gathering her coat and walking to the door, gesturing for everyone else to follow. "Good idea. Cars will be waiting for you downstairs in a moment."

The kids filed out of the office, exhausted, all yearning for their beds and a good night's sleep.


	41. Chapter XLI

**Chapter XLI**

* * *

Lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, he realized it was two in the morning. The house was quiet.

Jeremie couldn't sleep.

Turning on his side, he chose to stare at the wall. It was blank, his familiar Einstein poster still in his dorm room at Kadic. Squeezing his eyes shut, he could almost will his mind to believe he was back at school, worried about a fitness test or something.

But, no, it wasn't that easy. Letting out a breath, he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, his feet skimming across the cool hardwood floor. Fishing his glasses from the bedside table and putting them on, he stole a glance across the room to find William's bed was empty.

"Typical," he muttered, stuffing his feet into a pair of slippers.

Shuffling out of the room, he closed the door as quietly as possible, his eyes finally adjusting to the dim light of the moon filtering through the window of the two-story foyer. Turning a corner, he ran his hand along the bannister as he tiptoed downstairs, aware of the possibility of disturbing everyone else's sleep.

A light was on in the kitchen, he noticed, as he stood in the doorway from the foyer to the den. Thinking it was just William getting a glass of water or something, he relaxed as he strode across the dark room and into the light.

Giana, Aelita, William, and Sissi all sat at the island counter, each with a mug of steaming tea in front of them on the granite. A kettle sat, keeping warm atop an oven burner that had been switched off.

The foursome was mostly quiet, he realized, so assumed he hadn't interrupted any conversation. Sissi glanced down at a tablet propped up on its stand in front of her, concentrating on something he couldn't quite see. William placed his hand atop Giana's on the granite surface after she'd said something quietly in English. Aelita looked like she'd been only half-aware that he'd even entered the room, but snapped to attention when he neared them, taking a clean mug down from a cabinet.

"You guys can't sleep either?" the blonde inquired, ripping open the packaging to a teabag. He shuffled over to the stovetop and poured some hot water into the mug.

"I thought we'd be tired," Aelita supplied. "After the fight, I mean."

"I'm too wound up," Sissi added. "And sore."

Aelita nodded. "Tell me about it."

Jeremie sat down between his girlfriend and William. "At least the Agency gave me a new pair of glasses."

"And contacts," William pointed out in French, coming out of his conversation with Giana. "You really should consider them."

"He's right." Giana took a sip of tea. "Your Lyoko form can probably be modified too, huh? There's no need for your glasses to break in the field a second time."

The boy shrugged. "You guys saw me out there — I'm not meant to fight. I'm more of a behind-the-scenes guy. How am I supposed to hold off a cadre of adults who are trained to kill me?"

"We'll protect each other," Aelita replied simply.

"Or…" William took a sip of tea. "What if we go off on a side quest?"

Giana took her hand from his and crossed her arms. "No."

"Hear me out." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter. "The CIA is going to hack into the Men in Black's security feeds and replace it with old footage, so at least their surveillance centers won't be able to see us. They obviously have a supercomputer on-site as we saw the scanners. So… What if Jeremie and I sneak in and dismantle it?"

"The supercomputer?" Sissi raised an eyebrow, finally looking up at them from the tablet. "Can you even… do that?"

"It's a lot more complicated than just flipping the switch," Jeremie explained. "We'd have to detach and cut cables, and it has to be done in a certain sequence to remain valid."

" _No,"_ Giana repeated, this time more forcefully. She stood. "First, you two try to diffuse a nuclear bomb, and now _this_?!"

"She's right," Aelita chimed in.

"But…" Jeremie pondered the thought, staring down into his cup of tea. "It could work."

"Exactly." William relaxed his shoulders. "So, it's a tie. Two for, two against."

Giana balked. "You're not going to let everyone else decide?"

"The fewer people who know, the better," Jeremie replied.

"You're both crazy!" Aelita nearly shouted. "This is a suicide mission, and you know it!"

The boys ignored her. William turned to the fifth person in the room. "Sissi?"

She bit her lip, mulling it over as she stared into her own cup of tea, trying to avoid eye contact. If what they were implying was true, then maybe they could shut down their supercomputer and weaken the Men in Black, and, by extension, XANA. But… was it really worth risking their lives? Going in with the mission to inject a virus was one thing, but William's proposition was insane.

Still. She supposed it could work. If they were lucky enough.

"No," she said, finally. "It's too dangerous."

William banged both fists on the counter in frustration. Jeremie sighed, partially out of resignation but mostly due to relief — he really _didn't_ want to risk his life on a side quest.

The other girls visibly relaxed at their friend's decision to remain in solidarity. "Sorry," Aelita said, addressing the boys but turning to William. "It's for your own good." She stole a glance at the clock hanging on the wall. "Now, let's all try and get some sleep. It's late."

Jeremie stayed in his spot after the girls had left, taking a slow sip of tea. He arched an eyebrow at William. "We're still going through with the plan, aren't we?"

The boy let out a breath. "What do you think?"

"The CIA's going to have agents on the inside — if they thought turning off the Men in Black's supercomputer would incapacitate them… don't you think they would've said something? Or planned to do it themselves?"

"Do you really think they _can_ do it themselves?"

He looked into his mug. "I guess you have a point."

William waited a beat. "We'll see what happens when they send us in. At least, let's keep it at the back of our minds, alright?"

Jeremie tensed. "Yeah… sure."

* * *

"I can't believe he'd want to do something so stupid!" Giana exclaimed, bringing her fist to her pillow in frustration.

"Hey, keep it down," Sissi urged. "You're going to wake everyone else up."

"I just—" She tensed a moment, then stalled, taking a deep breath. "I'm mad, okay?"

"I know."

The two girls turned to see Aelita, leaning against their doorframe. She entered the room and shut and locked the door behind her.

"William's always been known to take risks," she continued, coming to sit cross-legged on Sissi's bed. Vega wandered over to them and she scratched the dog behind the ears. "But for Jeremie to agree with him—"

"I don't get it!" Giana snapped. "If the CIA thought shutting down their opponent's supercomputer would be affective in defeating them in any way, they would've said something! Or they would've done it already!"

"I get the feeling that this isn't completely about William," Sissi guessed.

The brunette slumped her shoulders and cast her gaze down at the plain blue bedspread that matched Sissi's on the other side of the room. "What if I see Xander?"

The two girls exchanged a glance.

"What if he…"

"Hey." Aelita snapped her fingers. "Stop thinking that way. Like I said earlier, we'll protect each other. If you find him—"

"You can't promise that," she interjected. "What if we get separated? Then what?"

Sissi nodded. "She's right. We need a backup plan."

"Well…" Aelita stalled, thinking. "The CIA has agents on the inside. Surely they're aware of how dangerous he is?"

"Right, but I highly doubt they'll go out of their way to keep us apart with the mission at hand," Giana said glumly.

"You don't know that," Sissi offered, trying to remain optimistic. She stifled a yawn. "But… I do think we should get some sleep."

Aelita stood and went to the door. "Don't worry," she said, opening it and stepping out into the hall. "I'm sure we'll all be fine."

* * *

"Alright."

The kids stood in the CIA's scanner room, Astrid's voice filling the surround.

"Your avatars and weapons have been upgraded to better aid you on this mission. Our agents on the inside are aware of your impending arrival and will assist when needed. We know this is probably an impossible request, but, try to keep a low profile."

Director Paulson put on an abandoned headset, speaking into it after adjusting her blonde hair. "Reinforcements will be standing by, and we'll be monitoring you every step of the way. We've already hacked into their systems and replaced the security feeds with dummy footage, but someone's bound to realize sooner or later. Once you've injected the virus, the authorities will apprehend everyone working for the Men in Black."

"A few sympathizers have been detained, as well," Astrid chimed in. "They're mainly being held for questioning and dangerousness hearings, but the FBI and NSA, as well as the appropriate French authorities, are assisting us in this joint effort to shut down the organization."

"If you are injured," Avery continued, "you will remain as such when you exit from our scanners. Just because you'll have armor under your Lyoko forms, that won't make you invincible. Be careful."

Off to the side, Jim bit his tongue. He'd initially sided with Franz and the CIA in regards to the kids completing this mission, but after thinking about it more in-depth, he'd realized that Anthea was right — they were just _children_ , and he was partially responsible for them as their teacher, regardless of whether or not they'd listen to him.

"Good luck," he whispered.

"You'll be transferred directly to their headquarters, bypassing Lyoko entirely," Astrid explained. "While you were going through a Replika for your previous visit, this time it's real. Try your hardest to stay out of danger."

Jeremie swallowed hard and focused on William out of the corner of his eye, the older boy clenching and unclenching his fists. The others were visibly tense as well, either shaking or trying not to bite their nails. Exhaling through his nose, he stepped over the scanner's threshold and turned around, facing his friends. "Let's go."

Astrid flexed her fingers. "Transfer."

She typed the appropriate commands into her terminal as the kids, one by one, had their views cut off by the scanner doors closing.

"Scanner."

While the process was initiating, she noticed some of the other technicians had been monitoring the progress from their screens. One of them pinched the bridge of their nose, while another fidgeted with their Bluetooth headset.

The woman let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Virtualization."

* * *

They landed in a circle in a concealed area a few yards from the Men in Black's compound. Immediately, Yumi noticed the array of weapons stashed away on utility belts adorning each of them. She reached behind her and felt the familiar _obi_ holding her fans, whipping one out and opening it in a fluid motion. She watched as Aelita produced an Energy Field, smiling before making it disappear.

"I say we divide up into groups of three," she offered, putting away her fan. "We can keep in touch via the comms units."

"Good idea." William called up his sword, as Ulrich unsheathed his katanas. "Jeremie and I—"

"How about," Aelita interrupted, " _I_ go with Jeremie? And Ulrich. William, you go with Odd and Giana. Nico and Sissi, you're with Yumi. Alright?"

Jeremie nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds good to me!"

"Enough hanging around." Ulrich started toward a side entrance. "Let's end this."

* * *

"Do we even know where she is?"

Nico had deployed a shield as he and Sissi flanked Yumi, the girls' weapons also drawn. Sissi was the one who'd spoken.

"I'm not sensing anything," he admitted. "But that doesn't mean we're in the clear."

Yumi poked her head around a corner to check their surroundings but was met with gunfire. "Fall back!" she ordered, swiftly stashing her fans. "Nico, protect Sissi!"

"What about you?" the younger girl demanded.

In response, Yumi stood strong with her arms out ahead of her, flexing her fingers to send the bullets flying back from whence they came. This garnered shouting from their enemy as the Men in Black agents scrambled to outrun their own attack. "Stand down!" a male voice ordered.

Narrowing her eyes, the girl grabbed a fan and threw it in a fluid motion toward one of the uninjured agents, her weapon catching him in the side. It flew back to her like a boomerang and she sheathed it, watching as the agent fell to his knees, screaming, trying to put pressure on his wound.

"It's the girl with telekinesis!" a female agent shouted. "Fall back, fall back!"

"How come your sixth sense didn't alert us?" Yumi demanded, turning on Nico.

"I don't know!" He deflected bullets with his shield, pulling a throwing knife from his belt with his free hand, aiming for one of the offending agents. The blade caught her in the chest, and she fell back, her gun skidding to the floor and landing a few feet away. "It's foolproof — but they know about our powers!"

" _What?!"_ Sissi shrieked.

"I keep forgetting you guys don't understand English!" He spun around and dug his longsword into the torso of another agent, watching as he, too, crumpled to the ground. "One of them said she knew you as the girl with telekinesis, Yumi — we don't have the element of surprise here!"

Yumi ducked out of the way as two female agents tried to corner her, landing a jab to one of their ribcages and kicking the feet out from under the other. "This is bad! We have to tell the others!"

* * *

"I think we're okay."

Giana relaxed as she let go of her powers, ensuring that she, William, and Odd were visible again. They stood in an empty hallway on one of the underground sublevels, having so far evaded the few Men in Black agents they'd encountered on their way.

"No sign of their director," Odd commented, turning a throwing knife over in his hand. "You think we've been tricked?"

"Hold on." William adjusted his earpiece. "Did you hear that?"

The trio stood still as they received communication from Yumi that the Men in Black seemed to be aware of their powers, adding in the suspicion that they'd blocked themselves from being found out by Nico.

"What if they have x-ray cameras or something that can see through your invisibility?" Odd inquired, turning to Giana.

"Well," the brunette started calmly, fading away from view, "I guess we'll just have to find out."

"Are you freaking _crazy_?" William demanded, catching her wrist just as she'd disappeared.

"No," she said coldly. " _You're_ the one who's insane for wanting to go on a suicide mission with Jeremie!"

" _What_?" Odd spat.

William waved his hand. "Now's not the time!" His sword appeared in a cloud of smoke. "Quiet. I think I heard something."

Giana faded back into view, drawing the glowing épée from the sheath on her back. Odd readied one of his purple cat-paws to fire a set of laser arrows, and the trio slowly crept forward, William poking his head out from around a corner.

"Ah," a woman said matter-of-factly, "Dunbar, De Luca, and Della Robbia."

The trio practically dropped their weapons. "Who—?" they sputtered in a mix of English and French.

"CIA Agent Melanie Cole," she said, the corners of her mouth turning up to form a small smile. "Don't worry — I'm with you." She flashed the appropriate ID badge. "We have agents meeting up with the other members of your party right now to see where we can assist with the mission."

"You seem to have the right credentials," William started, "but how do we know you're legit?"

"That's a fair question, Mr. Dunbar," she replied. "However, I ask you to inquire about my status with my superiors."

Odd pressed on his earpiece. "Hey, uh, Director Paulson?"

"Yes, Mr. Della Robbia," Avery answered, smiling. "Agent Cole is definitely one of the good guys."

"Okay, fine." Giana crossed her arms, still clutching the épée. "So, how can you help us?"

Melanie turned and beckoned them to follow. "Come with me. I have something to show you."


	42. Chapter XLII

**Chapter XLII**

* * *

"See this here?"

Agent Melanie Cole stood in an abandoned surveillance center with William, Odd, and Giana. She had pulled up a holographic map of the compound, gesturing to a red blinking dot that signified their location.

Odd arched an eyebrow while William narrowed his eyes and Giana tilted her head to the side. The woman bit her tongue. Obviously, the kids weren't understanding what she was trying to tell them.

"Well," she continued, "We're here, as you can tell—" She made a swiping gesture with her hand, the map panning to a different part of the building. "Their director's office is _here_." She pressed the air, a green dot appearing before her finger. "We've already scouted the location, but our team came back empty-handed."

"So, Greene isn't in her office," William muttered pointedly. Melanie had been speaking to them in French for Odd's benefit, but William was getting so frustrated he almost wanted to yell at her in English. "What the hell are you trying to do? We could be out there, fighting—"

"This isn't a _game_ ," Giana snapped.

"We're not sure where she is, exactly," Melanie said, ignoring them. "However, we have suspicion that she may be hiding where they house their supercomputer mainframe."

William's face lit up. Giana, having perfect vision due to being in her Lyoko form in the real world, clenched her left hand into a fist and unsheathed her épée with her right. "William," she started, "don't you _dare_ —"

"We've noticed that some Men in Black agents have been disappearing," Melanie cut in. "Vanishing out of thin air. We've planted tracking devices on them, but they cut off once they reach a certain part of the sublevels, near the scanner rooms. We believe…" She took a deep breath. "That they're being virtualized somehow."

"To Lyoko?" Odd sputtered.

"No, Mr. Della Robbia." She ran a hand through her hair. "Lyoko has been silent, according to our technicians. We don't know where they're going, or if they're coming back. But we have to stop them before it's too late."

The trio made faces of disgust. "They're running from the enemy," William said.

"And what will we do with all this evidence of terrorism and no one around to take responsibility for it?" Melanie made another gesture in the air, showing a route from their current location to the mainframe. "We're going to invade this location and inject the virus. And we need to move now."

* * *

It was eerie, the stillness. Xander hid in a side passageway from one of the main sublevels to an area reserved for training sessions. He'd heard of the intruders via his comms unit, and his father had instructed him to stay out of sight as he hadn't been fully inducted as a member of the Men in Black.

But he wasn't going to listen. He wanted to fight, too; to be a hero. Plus, he'd hacked his way through the communications channels and heard there was gunfire, that people were down.

They needed backup.

Steeling himself, the boy perched his standard-issue sunglasses atop his head, placing one hand on the gun at his hip. The other clutched the access badge he'd been given when he moved to D.C. with his father. They hadn't granted him full clearance at first, but he'd been able to worm his way through the backdoors of their system, allowing him to take any restrictions off his pass to let him roam freely.

Not that there was ever anything fun to do. Everyone else his age was lame, and he'd already tried (and failed) to seduce both the girls he went to school with and the ones in the mandatory combat training classes every intern had to take.

But they all fell short. There was still something missing.

He pulled out his phone and navigated to his photos, selecting one of his favorites. It was a selfie of him and Giana, with the ocean behind them. They were at the beach, and the girl was squinting from the sunlight. Her long hair was blowing in the wind, whereas his had been messy from the salty air and humidity.

He remembered that day perfectly. It was the middle of summer, hot and sunny, but they'd gone to Revere Beach because most of their friends were either down the Cape for the weekend or, in Tori's case, had to babysit. Which was why Xander had lied and told Jack he'd give him his allowance for two weeks if he watched their younger brothers instead.

It was before she had gotten the dog. Things in their relationship were easy, and they were happy. And they hadn't slept together yet, despite him really wanting to. But that wouldn't happen for a couple more months.

He huffed a sigh and stashed the phone away, shaking his head. They were done. She broke up with him. He moved. He'd tried to get over her, but failed miserably.

His heart ached for her. And he hated it.

He stared down at the gun, and took it out of its holster, playing with the safety switch. He'd had target practice more times than he could count, but he'd never shot at an actual, living person.

It took him a moment to realize his legs had started moving, carrying him out of his hideaway and toward the noise and chaos.

* * *

"I'm with Belpois, Stern, and Stones," Agent Jenn Way spoke into her comms unit. "Level One is clear. We're making our way to your rendezvous point now."

"Wait." Ulrich stood at the head of the group, holding a katana in each hand. The trio stopped behind him as he motioned for them to be quiet. "I thought I heard something."

"I think we're good," Aelita said. She let out a breath. "Jenn just said we were clear."

"You can't be too careful—"

Lasers shot at them from behind, knocking the CIA agent to the floor. Aelita formed two Energy Fields into a shield to protect her and Jeremie, while Ulrich deflected the blasts with his blades.

"Get us out of here!" he shouted at the blonde.

"I'm trying!" Jeremie answered. "I can't— I think they blocked me from teleporting!"

Abandoning her shield, Aelita threw an Energy Field at one of their assailants, catching them and knocking them back, landing to the floor with a _thud_. Jeremie threw a dagger at another but they dodged at the last second, the blade embedding itself in a door. He swore, offering up a roundhouse kick as they neared closer, catching the agent off-guard but not incapacitating them. Instead, he felt himself being grabbed around the middle, the cold barrel of a gun resting against the side of his head.

He felt as if he couldn't breathe.

"Everybody, _freeze_ ," the male agent said. They recognized him immediately as Xander's father.

"JEREMIE!" Aelita cried, lunging forward.

"Aelita, _no_!" Ulrich tackled her to the floor just in time for them to witness their friend being hauled off by Agent Emerson and another of their attackers, pointing a gun at them until they were far enough away to not interfere.

"Get off me!" she demanded, thrashing. "We have to help him! We have to—"

Ulrich cut her off. "Aelita, stop it! We're _going_ to get him out, okay? But in case you haven't noticed, our friendly CIA agent is out cold right now and we only have a vague idea of where we're supposed to be going!"

"But—"

"If we're going to save Jeremie, we need _everyone_. You know as well as I that we can't do it by ourselves."

She remained silent. Ulrich slowly got up, offering his hand to help her. She took it, but before they left she produced another Energy Field and threw it angrily at the opposite wall, burning straight through to a storage closet.

"SOS," the boy said into his earpiece. "We have an agent down. Jeremie's been taken captive. We need help."

* * *

Somehow, Giana had gotten separated from the others in a fight. Although she knew where she was supposed to be headed, she found herself in a scanner room en route to the mainframe.

And there was Xander, standing just a few feet away.

It was jarring, seeing him with perfect vision. It was almost as if she were seeing him for the first time. His hair was cropped short, and he had the beginnings of a stubble on his face. His green eyes were piercing, just as they'd been when she'd last seen him in Disneyland Paris.

She tried to speak, but nothing came out. That weight was back, crushing her, making it so she could barely breathe. Reaching for her belt, she grabbed a dagger from its sheath, holding it tightly in her right hand with the tip of the blade facing the floor.

He approached her, his expression softening. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"That makes two of us," she said stiffly.

"You look—" He eyed her up and down, taking in every detail as she stood in her Lyoko form. "Different."

She took a single step closer and gave him a quick once-over. He wore the signature formal suit and tie of the Men in Black, complete with sunglasses perched atop his head instead of on his face. It looked stupid. "So do you."

"You don't get it." He took another step forward and she stepped back, gripping the weapon so hard she was sure her knuckles were turning white. "I've never stopped loving you. That's why…" He paused. "That's why I kept wanting to be near you, even after we broke up."

"You hurt me," she said, her voice tight. "I ended up in the ER with stitches and a mild concussion because of you! Not to mention countless other bruises, and you'd constantly talk down to me—"

He interrupted her. "I know. And I'm sorry."

"You're _sorry_?!" she spat. "You caused me trauma and you're _sorry_? Jack found your dead body and you're _SORRY_?!" She took another step forward, fuming. "He wouldn't speak to anyone for _months_ and he dyed his hair so he could look at himself in the mirror again!" She conveniently left out the part where she and Jack had kissed, on more than one occasion, due to what they believed was loneliness and vulnerability.

Xander stopped, his shoulders slumping. "My what?"

She shook her head. "Don't you _dare_ act like you don't know."

He stammered. "My father— He… He told me everyone knew about this living arrangement."

"Everyone back home thinks you're dead, Xander," she said coldly. "There's a headstone with your name on it at Mount Auburn Cemetery."

He frowned, shaking his head slowly. But then he composed himself, closing the distance between them. He put one hand under her chin, tilting her head upwards so they made eye contact. The other landed on her waist.

"What about you?" he whispered.

She could hear her heartbeat. "What about me?" she choked.

"Do you still love me?"

In true fashion, he had backed her up against a wall. The muscles in her arm were starting to tense from the firm grip she had on the dagger.

She froze. Everything in her was telling her to fight, to break free and incapacitate him in order to continue the mission. She sent out an SOS signal from her earpiece, but she didn't know if it'd even go through with the interference from the scanners.

 _This is just like my nightmare,_ she realized. _Except…_

He placed his hands on her shoulders to hold her in place as he leaned in and kissed her.

Her brain practically forgot she'd been holding the dagger. Trying to stay calm, she moved her arm so as to make him think she'd pull him closer.

What he wasn't expecting, was the sudden stabbing feeling as she lodged the tip of the blade into his side, right below the ribcage. The épée, though her favorite weapon, was too long to be used effectively in their close proximity.

He shouted in pain, his hands still gripping her shoulders as he pushed her away so sharply, the back of her head hit the wall hard.

There was a moment where spots clouded her vision and she heard a ringing in her ears. But he was still holding on to her, so she landed a blind kick that caught him in the groin. He fell back and rolled to the floor as she lunged at him again, landing a punch to the side of his head.

Getting over himself, he flipped them so he was the one pinning her down, hands around her neck as she tried in vain to pry him away. Everything was getting dark and quiet.

"She's in here!"

It was William.

The door flew open, and Giana only barely heard people enter the room before feeling the sensation of freedom as someone had knocked Xander away from her. Sitting up, she coughed, taking in deep, precious breaths of air as her vision and hearing returned to normal.

Whipping her head around, she noticed William was holding Xander to the floor while Odd was disconnecting cables; Sissi, on the other hand, approached her and offered a hand to help her up. "Are you alright?"

Giana nodded, afraid to speak.

The corners of her friend's mouth turned upward into a small smile. "Good." She helped her stand, steadying her. "I think you'll be fine."

"If you don't get the hell off me," Xander threatened, "I'll—"

"Shut up," William said calmly, placing the barrel of his stun gun against the boy's head, "and listen to me."

Xander swallowed hard, thinking it was a real gun, as his back was to his attacker and he couldn't see the weapon.

"Your father has our friend," William continued. "Any idea where he'd be taking him?"

"Not a clue," Xander replied, without missing a beat. "I'm only here to fight. But then I saw her—"

William switched the safety of his stun gun to off. "I'm gonna stop you right there."

Odd and Sissi had been left out of the conversation as the boys were speaking in English and they had all busied themselves with assisting in dismantling the scanners. Giana, who was still paying attention, stiffened.

A lightbulb went off in Xander's head. "What?" He made a face of disgust. "Are you two sleeping together or something?"

The girl turned around and unsheathed her épée in a fluid motion. "I'm gonna—"

Odd and Sissi physically held her back while Xander laughed.

William shook his head. "Let her go," he said in French. Passing his stun gun to her, he addressed her directly: "I think you should do the honors."

Seeming to relax but switching hands so she held the épée in her left, she fired twice, watching with satisfaction as Xander's body went limp with shock.

William took his gun back and placed it in the holster. "That should knock him out for quite a while." He stood, dusting himself off, and faced her. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"Supposedly, he said his father told everyone back home that they were moving. He had no idea he's presumed dead," Giana replied, her voice hoarse. "He also said he still loved me."

Odd dropped the large cable he'd been in the process of cutting.

"And he kissed me." She cast her gaze to the floor. "And hurt me. Again."

William took out a real gun. "I'm gonna kill him."

Sissi knocked his hand to the side, the weapon skidding across the floor. "Hello! We have to find Jeremie and inject that virus into their director! Leave this loser alone — you can fight him when he wakes up."

William huffed. "Fine." Picking up the gun, he stalled a moment before searching Xander, taking his phone, another gun, and his access badge. "Looks like he really does still love you."

Giana peered at the beach selfie of the two of them set as the boy's lock screen, and scoffed. She was already heading toward the exit. "I can't wait until this is all over."


	43. Chapter XLIII

**Chapter XLIII**

* * *

Jeremie was in what he assumed to be an interrogation room. He sat, bound to a chair, with a table separating him from Xander's father. The man looked at him menacingly over his dark sunglasses.

"Jeremie Belpois," Liam said lazily, glancing down at a copy of the boy's CIA file.

He had mastered the French language when he studied abroad for a year in college, and had wanted to teach his sons. Jack was always intent on learning, whereas the other three couldn't care less. Xander had attempted to learn after they moved to D.C., but was nowhere near his twin's expertise.

Pulling himself back to the present, Liam leaned over and took his sunglasses off, getting a good look at the boy in front of him: He was blonde, pale, and bespectacled, and honestly didn't look like much. His Lyoko form was ridiculous.

"You're supposed to be the genius?" the man wondered aloud.

Jeremie scowled. "What do you want with me?"

"Our supercomputer," he said evenly. "It's… in need of a few enhancements."

The boy tried to keep his expression blank. "And?"

"Since you're the only one, other than my superior, who can make the necessary adjustments—"

"Where is she?" Jeremie interrupted. "Director Greene."

"She's… busy." Liam didn't want to admit that he had no idea where his boss really was. "Which brings us to you: You can either help us, or we'll make sure you never see the light of day again."

* * *

"His comms unit must be down."

Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, Nico, and Agents Melanie Cole and David Winn sat around a table in an abandoned tech lab near where the supercomputer was housed. It was Melanie who spoke, tapping and swiping away at an intricate smartwatch.

Nico laid his longsword on the table. "And what about my sister? We all got a distress call from her."

"Mr. De Luca," Agent Winn started, adjusting his earpiece, "I assure you, we're doing everything within our power—"

The door burst open, revealing Odd and Sissi. Giana and William were right behind them, the couple holding hands.

Nico stood. "Thank God." He pulled his sister into a quick hug. "Are you alright?"

"She had a run-in with Xander," Sissi replied, sinking down into a chair next to Aelita.

Giana broke away from her brother and took a seat. "He doesn't know that he's supposed to be dead. His father lied and told him they were moving, that everyone back home was aware." She paused, taking a deep breath. "He confessed that he still loves me. He kissed me, but I stabbed him. But then he hurt me."

"He almost killed her!" William shouted. His sword appeared in his hand in a cloud of smoke, and he angrily slashed the wall, leaving a long, deep mark.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it right now. Okay?" The girl held her head in her hands. "What's going on with Jeremie?"

"We saw Xander's father take him," Ulrich explained. "His comms unit is playing static, and we have no idea where the hell he is." He stood, unsheathing a katana, swiping it at the wall. "If only I could've _stopped them_ ," he said bitterly, still making marks with his weapon, "then maybe—"

"Don't beat yourself up about it."

Everyone turned to Aelita, who'd been silent since she saw Jeremie carried away from them. She produced an Energy Field, disintegrating it a moment later. "They had guns on us." She banged her fist on the table. "He had a gun on Jeremie. We could've—" She stopped herself, her voice breaking.

"I can probably help you."

Everyone drew their weapons at once, facing the boy standing in the doorway to their sanctuary.

Xander put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, I guess I deserve that."

" _You—"_ Nico and William started to run forward, but Odd and Ulrich jumped, each holding them back.

" _How_ _the hell_ did you—" William sputtered, shaking his head. "She shot you with a stun gun! _Twice_!"

The CIA agents exchanged a glance. "Quick-healing ability?" Melanie guessed.

David looked to the boy.

Xander leaned against the door. "I hate it when you people speak French."

Giana approached him calmly, eyes narrowed, focusing on the bruises that were visible from their fight. Stopping a short distance away and exhaling, she pulled her right hand back into a fist, mustered up all her strength, and punched him in the side of the head.

He slid down the door, landing in a heap at her feet.

The girl relaxed her shoulders, turning to face the rest of the room, smiling. "That felt good," she said cheerfully.

William leaned over and whispered in Ulrich's ear. "I think I'm falling in love with her all over again."

The boy rolled his eyes, sheathing his katanas.

"Alright." Agent Cole stood. "Here's how this is going to work. We have Xander, as well as his access badge, weapon, and phone. His father has Jeremie."

Agent Winn pushed his chair back abruptly. "I don't think—"

"We're going to offer a trade."

"But Xander said he might be able to help us," Aelita recalled.

"Don't believe him," Nico warned, without missing a beat.

"We'll gather whatever information he may have," Melanie continued, "and then radio his superiors. If we don't get Mr. Belpois back…" She trailed off, eyeing the gun on the table.

"This is insane!" David shouted. "Are we really going to stoop so low—"

"We have our peoples' _lives_ on the line, Agent Winn!" Melanie countered. "Not to mention, the fate of the human race!"

"What about the virus?" Yumi chimed in. "What if one team stays here with Xander, and the other goes to find their director?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Xander snapped.

Giana whipped around to face him, the boy not having moved from his position on the floor. "I thought you didn't know how to speak French!"

"I learned," he said coldly. "Now, listen." He picked himself up. Everyone had a firm grip on their weapons again. "I don't know where my dad took Jeremie. But I think I can help you find our head honcho."

"And why should we trust you?" Odd countered, getting into a firing stance with his purple cat paws.

"You shouldn't," he said evenly. "I mean, I wouldn't. But do you really have a choice?"

"Why are you helping us?" Nico demanded.

"I'm bored," he said simply. "And…" He cast a quick glance at Giana. "I'd do anything for her." Taking a step closer, he reached out his hand.

She was quick to act, grabbing his arm and pulling him to her so she was behind him, against the wall, holding her épée to his neck. "Lay a hand on me again and I will break it," she threatened.

"You were never this scary when you were my girlfriend," he countered, his voice strained. He tried to break away. Giana pressed the side of her blade in deeper.

Sissi, Yumi, and Aelita approached the duo, weapons drawn. The boy stared at the Energy Field floating in Aelita's hand, a pink ball of light and electricity.

He'd never admit it to them, but he was _scared_.

The top of Sissi's staff began to glow. "You should be very, _very_ afraid of her," she said smoothly.

"Okay, fine." The boy held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry."

The girls sheathed their weapons, Giana letting go of him and shoving him angrily back against the wall. Holding her head up high, she sauntered over to William, the boy draping an arm around her.

"Hold on." Odd crossed his arms. "Where were you going? You tried to enter one of the scanners."

He stared at the floor. "They call it the void. I don't know what it is or where they're coming out on the other side, but that's where everyone's being relocated. It's supposed to be a sanctuary or something."

Melanie turned to the newcomer. "Mr. Emerson—"

"Mr. Emerson's my _father_ ," the boy spat, interrupting her.

The woman groaned. "Fine. Xander. What else do you know?"

"Well," he started lazily, "I can tell you she's definitely not with the supercomputer."

* * *

"These enhancements are science fiction!" Jeremie said, exasperated. "An agent to inflict worldwide biological warfare?" He scoffed. "This is impossible! Who designed these blueprints?!"

"Quiet!" Liam drew his gun.

Jeremie swallowed, turning to a terminal and typing in a string of commands. "I— I guess I can look into it…"

"Good." The man holstered his weapon. Receiving a communication from another agent, he swore before radioing a response. "Sloan!" he barked.

Director Greene's lackey came scuttling into the room, tablet in-hand.

"Watch him." Liam stabbed a finger at Jeremie as he was already halfway out the door. "I have to deal with something."

The woman offered a single nod, knowing her superior didn't see it and that he didn't care. Jeremie, meanwhile, cast a quick glance at her: Judging by her demeanor, she seemed to be one of the lesser evil members of the organization. He wasn't sure if she knew French, but he figured he could at least try.

"Uh…" He started sweating. _"Excusez-moi..."_

Sloan arched an eyebrow, then stared at her tablet as she opened up a translation app. Extending the device to the boy, she offered a timid, sad smile.

 **My friends —** he typed. **Have you seen them? Are they alright?**

Taking the tablet back, she read the translation and nodded, affirming his hopes that they were still alive. He extended his hand and she handed it back to him.

 **Do you know where they are?**

Sloan bit her lip. She was under strict orders not to reveal any information to the enemy. However, this was just a teenage boy — although he was supposedly a genius, she knew she couldn't let him go without answers.

Tapping out a response, she handed the tablet back a moment later.

 **They're headed to the void,** Jeremie read.

He frowned. **The void?**

Sloan closed her eyes for a brief moment as she told him what she knew: **It's a trap. Once you're there, it's almost impossible to leave. It's supposed to manipulate you into thinking you're living a perfect life.**

Jeremie sucked in a breath. Here he was, with a busted comms unit and a person who didn't speak his language—

But wait.

He'd been working on their supercomputer. And if it was anything like the one in France, there would definitely be a way to initiate contact with the others.

* * *

"Vivian Greene!"

The group burst through into a scanner room, seeing one of the cylinders was already closed and undergoing a process.

"Vivian Greene!" Melanie repeated. "You're under arrest for conspiracy against the human race, treason, acts of terror causing death—"

The scanner doors opened, revealing the woman in question, her hair now a dark, smoky grey as opposed to its usual silver. The XANA symbol beat on her forehead like a vein, and she locked eyes with her intruders.

Before anyone could even get close to her with the virus, the woman snapped her fingers and disappeared.

Yumi practically threw one of her fans into the wall. "How—"

Teams upon teams of Men in Black agents swarmed the room, grabbing the kids while Agents Cole and Winn tried to fight them off. In a flash, before anyone knew what was happening, each of the Warriors were shoved into a scanner with their doors closing so abruptly, they had no time to escape.

* * *

Giana jolted awake. Rubbing her temples and blinking her eyes a few times, she was finally able to take in her surroundings.

She was in her room, in her parents' house in Cambridge. And she no longer had the perfect sight that came with being in her Lyoko form.

She felt a lump in her throat as she swiped her phone from the bedside table, staring blankly at the screen.

It was that same day, only early in the morning.

But she wasn't at the Men in Black's compound in D.C.

Scrambling out of bed and throwing on some clothes, rushing to prepare herself for whatever lie ahead, she ignored Vega's excitement as she flew across the hall and burst into her brother's room.

"Nico—"

He was already standing, fully dressed, a dumfounded expression on his face that she couldn't see. "I know."

"What the hell happened?!"

"I have no idea," he started evenly, grabbing his backpack, "but we're gonna be late for school."


	44. Chapter XLIV

**Chapter XLIV**

* * *

"I think we're in the void."

Nico kept his grip firm on the wheel as he navigated into the student lot of the upper school campus. Side-eyeing his sister and her dog, he let out a breath. "I think you're right."

Once he found a spot and parked, they exited the car and walked through one of the side entrances to the main building.

"At least we're supposed to be here," she continued. "No one's looking at us like we're out of place."

"Yeah, I—"

Nico was cut off by a redheaded girl approaching them and wrapping her arms around him, kissing him on the cheek. "Morning."

Giana tried to maintain her composure while her brother wore a shocked expression that she could barely see. Once he got over himself, he turned to the girl holding on to him. "Uh… Hi, Ellie."

Ellie knit her brow. "What's wrong?" She let go, taking a step back. "Did I do something?"

"Nico thinks he's coming down with something," Giana said quickly. "He's a little delirious from lack of sleep."

"Oh." The girl produced a travel-sized bottle of hand sanitizer from her bag and applied a few drops. "Sorry." She smiled bashfully, turning to the boy. "See you later? In AP Physics?"

He nodded blankly. "Uh-huh. Yeah."

Shrugging, the girl walked away through the sea of students, searching for her other friends.

"So." Giana leaned against the locker next to hers. "Ellie Holloway."

Nico leaned his forehead against a locker on her other side. "What the hell is going on?"

His sister was about to offer up an answer when Tori, Jack, and James approached them, followed closely by Andrea, Xander, and Brienne. The group had been chatting animatedly amongst themselves.

"Rachel's running late," Tori said casually, opening up the locker on the other side of Giana's, which still sat untouched. The girls busied themselves with stowing away their coats and fencing gear while Nico pretended to search for something in his backpack.

Brienne eyed the siblings while simultaneously checking her makeup in a compact mirror. "What's with you?"

"Long story," Nico mumbled.

"Exhausted," Giana replied. She closed her locker and told Vega to stand.

It was then that Jack approached her and put an arm around her.

Nico observed the pair, watching as his sister's face went from tired to a brief moment of panic, and then settling on relief as she realized which twin it was.

Xander, on the other hand, leaned over and whispered something in Andrea's ear. The blonde giggled in response.

"Okay," Nico said abruptly. "I think it's time for homeroom." He turned and left the group, seeking out Ross and Jay, and now Ellie, and hopefully a sense of normalcy.

* * *

Their first class of the day was AP French Language and Culture. Giana felt herself almost relax from where she was sitting next to Jack and in front of Nico, as it was the only course the siblings had together due to being in different years. Madame Gauthier had already called the class to order, standing by the door instead of perched atop her desk as usual.

"Good morning!" she greeted in French, ever so chipper. "Today, we're doing things a little differently."

Opening the door, she stepped aside to reveal the Dean of Students, a kind man who also looked like he'd missed his daily cup of coffee. He said hello in French, but then switched to English: "I have some new exchange students I'd like you to meet. I realize it's almost the end of term, but paperwork being what it is…" He paused, clearing his throat. "Anyway, why don't I let them introduce themselves?"

In filed Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, Sissi, and William.

Nico had to restrain himself from jumping out of his seat. Giana, though they looked like a mass of color to her from her spot on the other side of the room, she honed in on Aelita's pink hair immediately and bit her tongue to stop herself.

Jack tensed. "Are you alright?" he whispered.

"I know them," she explained in a rush. "I met them over the summer. When I visited my grandparents."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. For a second there you looked like you'd seen a ghost."

She smiled politely. _You don't know the half of it._

* * *

The school day miraculously went by without issue for the most part, except for the language barrier and Odd almost messing up an experiment in their forensics class. William had been commended in the computer science class he shared with Nico and Yumi for doing exemplary work, lying about where he'd learned how to write such an intricate program in a short amount of time. Once fencing was over and she said goodbye to Tori and Rachel, Giana instructed Vega to find Nico and their friends.

"Alright." Her brother unlocked his car. "I can take four with me. Two can go with Giana on the T and we'll meet back at our house."

"Does anyone have a damn clue as to what's going on here?" Sissi demanded. "I feel like we're in _The Twilight Zone_!"

"I'm pretty sure we're in the void," Giana replied, echoing what she had said earlier. "And according to social media, I've been in a relationship with Jack for about two years."

"Yeah." Nico laughed. "And I've apparently been seeing one of our most aggressive soccer players for the last three months."

"It's the winter sports season," Ulrich pointed out.

"She's on the fencing team, too."

"Can we focus?" Yumi cut in. "Let's get going. We need a safe space to talk."

"Hey!"

The group turned as one, watching as Jack casually approached. He said hello to the others in French and waved.

"Gia." They kissed. "I thought we were going to the movies."

"I…" She blushed.

William stiffened and bit his lip.

"I'm sorry, Jack — I'm not feeling well." She stared at the ground. "I think I'm catching what Nico has."

The boy looked to her brother. "You're sick?"

"Yeah." He coughed. "There's something going around."

"Okay. That's fine." Jack offered up a sad smile. "I hope you guys feel better." He turned to Giana. "I'll text you later, okay?"

She nodded, and he kissed her forehead before leaving.

* * *

Giana leaned back in an armchair, clutching a toss pillow. "I hate lying."

They were sprawled out in the De Luca's basement. Sonya, their housekeeper, had just about gone into a panic when everyone arrived, insisting on taking a trip to the store to pick up more food. The siblings had happily sent her on her way, with the notion that their parents also wouldn't be back from work for another hour or so.

"We lie all the time," Sissi reminded her.

"I know, but…" She paused, trying to figure out how to word it. "It's different when it's just teachers. These people are supposed to be our family and friends."

"And boyfriends," William quipped.

She shot him an icy glare. "What do you want me to do?"

He sighed. "Nothing. It's not like any of this is real."

"I still can't believe a Bizarro version of Jim woke us up this morning and is probably waiting back at the house!" Odd threw his hands in the air. "He called us by our first names and gave us lunch money and everything!"

Aelita frowned. "You know what I don't like? Jeremie's still being held hostage."

Yumi placed a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "We'll save him. I promise."

Ulrich stood. "Has anyone tried using their powers yet?"

They all stared at him blankly. Nico was the first to speak: "I didn't even think about it."

The younger boy took a running stance. "Well—"

He was interrupted by Sonya, the woman bustling down the stairs with a distraught look on her face. "Giana," she started, in English, "Mr. Jack is here. He says you and Nico are sick?" She frowned, going over to place a hand on the girl's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever."

"It's probably just a bug," she said, waving it off. "Don't worry about it."

The woman narrowed her eyes, reading the room. "I'll tell him to wait in the kitchen."

Nico buried his face in his hands once the woman had left. "Great."

His sister stood, throwing the toss pillow on the chair behind her. "I'll be back in a minute."

* * *

Jack had been reading something on his phone while sitting at the kitchen island. He smiled and stood as Giana entered the room, closing the distance between them as he approached her and took her hand.

"Hey." He led her back to the island and pulled out another stool, gesturing for her to sit. "You look exhausted."

She stifled a yawn. "I haven't even touched my homework yet. There's a lab report due for Forensics tomorrow and… a lot of other things."

"Well…" He held up a paper bag. "I have something that might cheer you up."

Peering inside, the girl took out a to-go container and some plasticware. Opening the lid, she watched as some steam wafted into the room.

"Soup," he explained. "From that place in the North End that you like. And—"

She cut him off. "You went all the way to the North End for me?"

"Yeah, I drove," he said simply. "It's quicker by car, you know that." Leaning down and rummaging through his backpack, he produced another, smaller bag. "I also stopped at the Lush at Harvard Square and got that one bath bomb that smells like lavender. I think it's called Twilight?"

She almost choked on her soup.

"Are you okay?" He put a hand on her back. "You've been acting really weird all day."

She took a sip of water and turned to face him. "Jack, this was really sweet. And I very much appreciate you coming to check up on me." _Not that I deserve any of it._ "But… there's something you should know."

They were close enough that she could see his expression fall. "What?"

She took a deep breath. "Well—"

She was interrupted by a bright streak blazing through the room as Ulrich used his speed, followed by William on his tail as the older boy had assumed his usual form of black smoke.

They were racing, the idiots. One of them had even swiped Jack's phone.

The boy stood so abruptly his stool fell back. "What the hell!"

Giana also jumped to her feet, still holding the container of soup. "NICO!"

"I told them not to!" her brother shouted from the basement.

* * *

Jeremie was becoming increasingly frustrated. Not only was he still expected to convert the supercomputer into a weapon of mass destruction, but he'd been running diagnostics checks for the last few hours and still hadn't managed to locate a single trace of his friends.

"Damn it!" He slammed his fist down on the chair's armrest. "What am I doing wrong?"

Sloan stood idly by, offering him a sympathetic stare. Liam was still off dealing with the communication he'd received earlier, and the boy only hoped he'd be gone for the rest of the day.

An idea struck: He'd stuffed his busted earpiece in his pocket after he'd been captured, as the Men in Black had made sure to cut off any form of communication he had to the others. Taking it out, he stared at it and bit his tongue, trying to concentrate.

Reaching out to the table behind him, he snatched up a tiny screwdriver. Nimbly opening the device so as to expose its inner workings, he took a pair of tweezers and slowly moved the wires in the cable back to their original positions.

Immediately, he heard something — it was Agent Cole, one of the good guys working on the inside. She'd been in the middle of repeating an alert to all the CIA, FBI, NSA, and DGSE agents in the building, warning them to keep watch over the scanners. Somehow, they'd managed to take control of the compound, but they still couldn't locate Director Greene.

Jeremie started sweating, his heart beating so loudly he could hear it. "This is Jeremie Belpois," he said in a rush. "I'm in a lab — I need help. I'm trying to get into contact with the others. They've been taken to the void, a parallel universe to ours that seems to be deep in the net. I—"

The door flew open, and in walked Xander. Sloan stood at attention.

"You can go," he said, giving her a nod.

"Jeremie?" It was Agent Cole. "Jeremie, we hear you. We're coming to get you, alright? Stay calm."

The boy looked to the newcomer, frowning, unsure of him.

"Jeremie?"

He snapped back to reality. "Yes, thank you." Taking a moment to affix the device to his ear, he cleared his throat. "I don't exactly know where I am—"

"He's in sublevel six," Xander interrupted, speaking into his watch. "East side. You'll find us."

He blanched. _"Us?"_

The boy in the suit smirked. "Yeah, I'm gonna guess you don't trust me either." He took a seat. "But I've been looking all over this damn building for you. We need to get the others out of there."

Jeremie deflated. "I've tried. I've searched everywhere, and so far…" He paused. "Wait. What happened to your father?"

Xander leaned back. "I sent him on a wild goose chase. He's the least of our worries." He picked up a tablet. "The longer they're in there, the harder it'll be to get them back."

"So I've heard." Jeremie turned back to the computer terminal. "How tech-savvy are you?"

"Enough to know that we're all in trouble." Xander stared intently at the tablet, tapping and swiping away. "I barely know how to code or run a system process, but I've heard my father talk about the void more times than I can count. He said Greene was planning on using it as a failsafe once they—" He stopped himself.

The other boy narrowed his eyes. "Once they what?"

He gulped, adjusting the sunglasses still sitting atop his head. "Once they wipe out all of humanity with that biological weapon they're making you build."


	45. Chapter XLV

**Chapter XLV**

* * *

"How the hell can you _not be from this earth?!_ "

Jack hadn't sat still since Giana dragged him down into the basement, and they had all tried to tell him an abridged version of their situation.

He took a bold stance, folding his arms and staring between Ulrich and William. "And which one of you has my phone?"

The boys exchanged a glance. After a moment, Jack's smartphone materialized in William's hand, shrouded in black smoke. He handed the device back.

Giana calmly reclaimed the armchair, still holding the container of soup. "I told you: We're from a parallel universe. We were sent here by accident, by a group of terrorists trying to get rid of us." She paused, eating another spoonful. "We're trying to get home."

Jack frowned, coming to sit on the armrest beside her. "What will happen when you leave?"

"We don't know," Yumi admitted.

"Hopefully…" Aelita stared off into space for a moment, thinking. "Hopefully you'll forget any of this ever happened. That things for you on this earth will go back to normal."

Giana perked up. "Can someone get my laptop? It's—"

Before she'd even finished, Ulrich and William took off again, racing each other up two flights of stairs and into the girl's room, breezing by a dazed Sonya as she vacuumed the upstairs hallway. Vega, who had been resting on her dog bed, picked her head up at the sight of the boys as they searched around the room for the computer. Finally, Ulrich spotted it on the desk, jumping to grab and unplug it before William beat him.

The boys paused for a moment, eyeing the Labrador staring at them warily.

"She shouldn't know us," Ulrich said aloud. "So, it makes sense that she's not excited, right?"

Shrugging, William turned to smoke and started for the basement. Ulrich followed him with the computer in-hand, and finally, Vega bounded after them both, knocking Sonya off balance in the chase. The woman shouted in protest.

Once the boys were back and Giana had her laptop, Aelita moved to stand on the other side of Jack, concentrating on the girl. "What's going on?"

"I was hoping we could try to get in touch with Jeremie," the brunette replied.

Jack looked down over her shoulder before settling on her expression. "I want to help. What do you need to know about this world?"

"Actually, we have some things to fill you in on from our world." She deflated. "You're not gonna like this, but where we come from, I left for boarding school in France." She paused, biting her lip. "And… I was in a relationship with Xander for over a year, before his abuse became too much—"

Jack frowned. "Abuse?"

She nodded.

He leaned back. "That explains it."

Yumi narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Andrea. She…" He exhaled. "I saw a couple bruises on her arm last week. I tried to talk to her about it, but she seemed very uncomfortable so I just left it. I didn't know…"

Giana reached up and took his hand, having moved the laptop to the coffee table. "You couldn't have. It took you months to figure out anything was wrong with Xander and I. But you and I talked about it a lot, after—" She stopped herself, taking her hand back and looking away.

The boy stiffened. "After what?"

The room fell silent, the kids shifting uncomfortably or giving each other sidelong glances. Odd cleared his throat. Sissi reached down and started petting Vega, who had wandered over to her.

"Xander killed himself," Giana said softly. "Well— Actually, your father faked his death and recruited him for the Men in Black. But our world's version of you thinks he's still dead."

"I think I would know if my father faked Xander's death," Jack said coldly. "I see them every day — there's hardly any opportunity for him to keep that big a secret."

"Where we come from, your parents divorced when we were ten. Your dad hurt you. And your mom, and Xander. And probably Micah and Andrew, too. But I didn't know until Tori told me, because she'd talked to you after cross-country one day."

"This is crazy!" The boy stood. "I get that you're not _from here_ , but—"

"Jack, cool it. None of this concerns _you_ ," Nico pointed out. "The you here is a completely different person from you in our world. _Your_ _life here_ — nothing is the same."

Giana stood abruptly. "Which is why Mom and Dad didn't move to the Back Bay."

Jack frowned. "What?"

"Yeah—" She paced, while William took the laptop and disabled the speech software, opening a web browser and then a Terminal prompt, typing in a few commands and biting his tongue. "When they came to visit for the _Bal_ , they said they were moving because Nico's going away to college and I'd be finishing high school in France."

Nico snapped his fingers. "But because you didn't go to Kadic…"

"Exactly."

"Okay." William leaned back, placing the laptop back on the coffee table in front of him. "I set up a program that will ping us if Jeremie tries to make contact. There's no way I can get to him, since we don't have access to a supercomputer. But it'll have to do for now."

Sonya appeared at the top of the basement stairs. "Nico and Giana, someone's here to see you…"

Exchanging a glance, the siblings stood and followed the woman, who was visibly tense.

In the parlor stood three Men in Black agents, scrutinizing the duo.

"Get Jack out of here!" Yumi ordered, appearing in a flash and using her telekinesis to hold the agents against the far wall.

Giana disappeared from view, grabbing the boy's hand as he faded with her. "Come on."

"No," he said firmly, pulling her back. "I'm a black belt in mixed martial arts. I'm staying."

"Come _on,_ Jack!" She took another step forward. "Now's not the time to be a hero."

"We're with you!" one of the agents shouted in French. "We're with the FBI! We were sent in undercover as backup and got caught up in the fray; somehow, we ended up here. We want to help!"

"Where are your credentials?" Ulrich demanded.

Jack and Giana rippled back into view. He stepped in front of her protectively. "What the hell is going on? You _all_ have powers?!"

Yumi loosened her hold on the adults, still holding them in place but allowing them to produce FBI badges from their pockets. Sonya pocked her head around the corner and peered into the room, fumbling with a phone. "I'm calling the police!"

"Sonya—!" Nico jumped, grabbing the device. He turned to the group, addressing them in French: "They're telling the truth. I didn't sense them as a threat." Switching back to English, he tried to relax as he spoke to their housekeeper. "We can explain — don't call the cops. And please don't tell our parents."

"Don't tell your parents _what_?"

The group turned as one, staring at Sal and Janine, who'd entered the house unnoticed. It was Sal who'd spoken. Yumi, having lost focus, dropped the agents to the floor with a _thud_.

"Jack, it's nice to see you," the man continued, nodding to his daughter's boyfriend. "But what, exactly—"

"We can explain." One of the FBI agents stood, straightening out the wrinkles in her suit.

Jack sidestepped around Giana, now standing behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. De Luca." He flashed a fake smile. "All I wanted to do was bring over some soup."

* * *

Jeremie peered inquisitively at Xander as he followed the boy and two CIA agents through the maze of hallways. "Why are you helping us?"

"I already told you," he mumbled.

"Hm." He narrowed his eyes. "And you're not going to go rogue and turn us over to your superiors?"

"If I did," Xander started flippantly, "why would I tell you beforehand?"

Agent Cole made a _tsk_ ing noise. "Boys." She opened a door and gestured for them to go in before her. "Try to remain civil."

Agent Winn turned as the trio filed into the lab, having spent the last few hours trying to hack his way through the Men in Black's mainframe in a vain attempt to contact the others off-world. He was becoming frustrated.

"Agent Winn." Melanie placed a hand on the back of his chair. "Take a break. Help our guys prosecute the terrorists. Jeremie can continue your work."

The boy frowned, claiming the agent's seat. "But how?"

"Do a scan," Xander suggested lazily, leaning against the wall.

"I…" Jeremie leaned forward, opening a Terminal prompt and then a localizing program that would hone in on a beacon. "I think I found something."

Agent Cole tried to remain passive. "Oh?"

"Yeah. It's weak, but…" He focused on the reading. "It's definitely something William would've created."

"But how are we going to get them out?" Xander asked. "They don't have access to scanners."

"Actually…" Agent Cole straightened up, staring down at her smartwatch. "Mr. Belpois, remember how your group dismantled the supercomputer at Harvard?"

Jeremie nodded. "And the one under Boston City Hall, yeah. But I don't…" A lightbulb went off in his head. "They're still there. In their world. But, how do we know—"

"Where there's a supercomputer," she started, smiling, "there are scanners."

"It's practically impossible to leave the void, though," Xander reminded them. He plucked the dark sunglasses from atop his head and laid them on a workstation.

"We'll find a way." She leaned forward, watching Jeremie as he continued typing. "But first, we need to establish contact."

* * *

Sonya poured some bourbon and scotch for Sal and Janine. Snow had started to fall outside, and the FBI agents fidgeted awkwardly as they stared into their own glasses of wine or whiskey.

The kids had been confined to the basement. Jack was told to go home, but he disobeyed; he was too far involved as it was.

"I don't understand." Janine rested her head in her hands, ignoring her drink.

Sal took a large sip. "They're all grounded."

"With all due respect, sir," one of the agents started, "we don't blame you for being in denial. However, once we leave this parallel earth, we will be sure to wipe your memories of all of this; your children will return to normal, and it'll be as if we were never here."

"Where are they now?" Janine asked. She straightened up. "What the hell did you do with my kids?!"

"We didn't do anything to them, ma'am," one of the male agents responded. "Although, we're not sure where they are exactly. But we do know that once this timeline is restored, they'll come back. You'll all be fine."

There was a knock at the door. Sonya ushered Brienne inside and out of the cold, telling her to remove her coat and boots and offering a mug of homemade hot chocolate. "Giana!" she called, heading into the kitchen, "Miss Brienne is here!"

"Xander sent me," she explained. Peering into the kitchen, she noticed the adults. "Hey, what—"

"Brienne!"

Stunned, the girl whirled around, her dark skin illuminated by the lights from the Christmas tree in the parlor — the holiday was only a little less than three weeks away. "Giana, what the hell's going on? None of you are answering your phones and Xander told me to get Jack. Their parents want him home for dinner." She pointed back toward the kitchen as Sonya appeared with her mug. "And who are those people?"

"It's a really long story." They watched as Jack came up from the basement, quietly getting his things together. "We were doing homework."

Brienne sipped her hot chocolate. "Mhm."

Jack zipped his coat. "I'll see you tomorrow." They kissed. "I'll call you later, alright? Keep me posted."

Giana nodded as she watched the duo leave through the front door, closing it after them.

"Gia!"

It was Nico.

"We got something!"

Running back down into the basement, Giana reclaimed her spot next to Aelita and grabbed her own mug of hot chocolate from the coffee table. William stared intently at her laptop as it made a subtle, beeping noise. "I think it's Jeremie."

"It's Agent Cole," Ulrich realized, reading over the boy's shoulder. A message had popped up on-screen. "We have to go to Harvard."

Yumi frowned. "Why?"

William leaned back, having typed out a reply. "It's the only chance we have of getting back home."


	46. Chapter XLVI

**Chapter XLVI**

* * *

"I still don't understand," Jeremie said, staring intently at the computer monitor. "I thought the scanners didn't work on adults. How are we going to get those FBI agents back?"

"The process can be fatal if you're trying to run a virtualization to Lyoko," Agent Cole explained. "However, it should, in theory, be alright if you're transferring between dimensions, or even using it as a tool to travel from here to France."

"So, it's like a teleportation device," Xander guessed.

Melanie nodded.

Xander took a seat near Jeremie. "We're just going to sit here and wait?"

"Our agents are still rounding up the members of your organization, Mr. Emerson," she said coolly.

He scowled. "I told you, Mr. Emerson is my _father_."

"Well, there's nothing I can do," Jeremie cut in, removing his headset. "William told us that they've lived through an entire day on that earth, meanwhile only a few hours have passed here. We just have to be patient until they can access the mainframe at Harvard."

"I had no idea there were supercomputers under the city," Xander muttered.

Jeremie ignored him, instead turning to the agent: "What do we do once they come back? We still haven't found Director Greene. XANA's still out there, free to cause destruction."

"So far, there haven't been any reported incidents." Melanie checked her smartwatch for the thousandth time. "Unfortunately, Mr. Belpois… I really don't have much of an answer."

* * *

"Come on, come on!"

It was early the following day for them, and Nico sat perched at the edge of the sofa in the den, fixated on the news. Enough snow had accumulated the previous night to sanction calling off schools. Boston Public had just been announced to have a snow day, and Cambridge was close behind.

"You know private schools don't follow that," Giana mused, flopping across an armchair. She finished responding to a text from Tori on her phone.

"YES!" Nico jumped from his seat as the words BUCKINGHAM BROWNE & NICHOLS SCHOOL — CLOSED scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

"So, we have a snow day," his sister snapped. "That doesn't help us get back to our earth any faster!"

"Think about it, Gia." He turned off the TV. "This version of Mom and Dad have been avoiding us since they were debriefed last night. The FBI agents were planning to take us to Harvard today anyway, and lie to the administrators about a field trip. School being canceled makes it that much easier."

"You do realize that Harvard's probably closed too, right?" Their phones went off with a weather alert. "Yeah. Governor Baker just declared a state of emergency. I think that makes the mission more difficult."

He was about to offer a response when the doorbell rang. As Sonya was stranded at her home due to the storm, Nico got up to answer and was greeted by one of the FBI agents.

"Your essential personnel have arrived to escort you to the university." The woman smiled, then faltered, staring at the duo.

The siblings exchanged a glance. They were still in pajamas. "Give us ten minutes," Giana pled. "And, come in — it's too cold to wait outside."

* * *

"This is too easy," Yumi said, following the agents into the science center, making their way swiftly to the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments wing. "If the Men in Black were being sent here as a sanctuary, shouldn't we have run into one of them by now?"

"Don't jinx it," Odd warned.

"He's right." Ulrich was really trying his best to relax, but his shoulders were up by his ears, and he kept looking behind him out of paranoia. "The last thing we need is to call attention to ourselves."

"I think we have that covered," Sissi said dryly. "The whole state's shut down and _you three_ " —she gestured ahead to the agents— "somehow convinced the admins to let us into the building for a field trip."

Agent Cross rolled her eyes. "If all goes according to plan, Miss Delmas," she started, "those people will never remember us."

The doors to their elevator opened, and they found themselves in the same hallway Jeremie and William had taken refuge in when they destroyed the Replika a few weeks prior. Looking around apprehensively as they approached the door, the older boy faltered. "Are the cameras disabled?"

The male, Agent Hughes, smiled. "Agent Grey already snuck into their surveillance center and relieved the guards, taking command of the controls."

"You mean he incapacitated them, don't you?" Aelita prodded.

The adults exchanged a look.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Hm." Pausing a brief moment, William turned to smoke and slid under the door, unlocking it from the inside. "Jeremie and I didn't find any scanners when we were here last time. How are we supposed to get home?"

"You weren't exactly looking for them, though," Agent Hughes pointed out. "They're in the next room; however, there are only three, like the lab in France, so we'll have to be quick."

William stole a fleeting glance back at the agents as he stood in front of the terminal. "Do either of you know how to run a virtualization process?"

Agent Cross frowned. "No."

William sighed. "Fine. If you can both stand guard outside somewhere, I can run the transfer for everyone and then set a timer for myself."

The adults nodded, retreating to the hall and taking their stations: Agent Cross stood outside the door to the supercomputer room, while Agent Hughes went back out the double doors and waited at the bottom of the stairs, with a clear line of sight to the elevators.

Ulrich narrowed his eyes. "Who goes first?"

"I don't care." William started typing, bringing up a transfer window. "If what Jeremie said is right, I should be able to enter in these coordinates…" He trailed off, focusing on the screen in front of him, seeing the information Jeremie had sent in his mind's eye, clear as day.

That didn't mean he wasn't nervous though. He really wasn't in the mood to admit it, but he was afraid. Everyone relied on him to help them make it back home. If he got one sequence wrong, or entered the incorrect coordinates — if he messed up, or if Jeremie had sent him the wrong info — it was all over.

Nico stiffened. "Somebody's coming."

William still had his back to the group. "Go." He waved his arm behind him. "I'll join you when I'm done."

Giana took a step forward. "William—"

"Giana." He turned around, placing a hand on her shoulder, gently nudging her toward the others. "Go."

Her expression fell. Reluctantly, she took Aelita's arm and the group left as one, heading through an adjoining door into the next room.

"Odd and Sissi and I are ready," Yumi announced, the trio situated in their scanners.

"Okay." William flexed his fingers and started up the transfer. "Here goes nothing…"

The scanner doors closed, and they were each treated to the all-too-familiar sensation of a virtualization process. The white light and rush of air felt both exhilarating and frightening, and the last thing Yumi remembered feeling was her jaw muscles tense as she clenched her teeth.

* * *

"Miss Ishiyama."

Yumi gripped the sides of her open scanner door, staring across the room but barely _seeing_ , as Odd and Sissi emerged from their cabins. A DGSE agent let out a sigh of relief as she realized the trio were, in fact, okay.

The woman straightened up. "Where are the others?"

"They're on their way," Odd responded. He rubbed his temples. "Where's Jeremie? Is he okay?"

"Yes—" The agent paused as three more scanner doors opened, revealing Nico, Giana, and Aelita. They all wore the same expressions of fatigue and shock.

Finally coming to her senses, Yumi took a step out of her scanner, examining herself and her friends. They still wore their armor and were in their Lyoko forms, and she noticed Giana blinking rapidly, adjusting to her perfect eyesight. Rolling her shoulders, Yumi felt the familiar _obi_ on her back, the fans stowed away nicely.

She reached behind her and grabbed one, opening it in a fluid motion. Narrowing her eyes, she frowned. "Something must've happened."

"They hadn't gotten to us yet," Nico explained, leaning his longsword against the wall. "Shots were fired and the agents were firing back, but they—"

A scanner opened in a cloud of steam, revealing Ulrich. He was visibly shaken and sweaty, falling to his knees inside the cabin.

The group rushed over to him. The DGSE agent had left to get backup.

"What happened?" Yumi demanded.

Sissi practically threw herself into the scanner. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," the boy answered, hollow. "They almost got me — there was a fight. I… I think Agent Cross might be dead."

He watched as the color drained from each of his friends' faces.

The DGSE agent returned with Agents Cole and Winn.

"Where's Jeremie?" Aelita demanded.

"He's safe," Agent Cole replied, keeping a firm grip on her gun. "We'll take you to him."

"HELP!"

The group fumbled, some of them flinching as William's voice came over their comms units.

"Is anyone there?" he continued. "I— I don't—"

"We're here!" Giana, Ulrich, and Aelita responded in unison.

"We're all here," Yumi confirmed. "Are you with Jeremie? Are you okay?" She joined her party as they ran toward an elevator.

"No, I—"

He was cut off

Odd frowned. "William?"

Silence.

Giana ran ahead, drawing her épée. "William!"

"Ping his last location," Nico suggested.

Before the agents had a chance to respond, their elevator doors opened to greet them with Jeremie and Xander. The boys were paler than Ulrich, and looked as if they'd seen a ghost.

Agent Winn ushered everyone inside before addressing the duo: "What is it?"

Xander fidgeted a moment. He held up his tablet with a map of the Men in Black's compound, several dots blinking. He pointed to a small cluster. "We found Director Greene."

"That's a good thing!" Yumi exclaimed. She instinctively closed her hand around the small vial holding the virus. The others did the same to theirs.

"No." Jeremie broke away from Aelita's embrace. "So did William."

* * *

William pressed himself against the back of the inside of his scanner, watching in horror as a XANA-possessed Director Greene approached him slowly, with two members of the Men in Black on either side.

He could hear his own heartbeat. Static played in his comms device.

He was on his own.

"So, we meet again," Vivian mused, a sort of darker tone to her voice. A smile crept across her pale features, her silver hair done up and out of her face.

"XANA," William said curtly. His sword appeared in his right hand, covered in black smoke.

"We could've ruled the world together," XANA continued, still using the woman's voice. "You could have been invincible."

"I lost about six months of my life," the boy shot back. "I was your puppet! I never wanted to join you!" He stepped out of the scanner.

"Oh, come now." XANA closed the gap between them, folding Vivian's arms across her chest, scrutinizing the boy. "I think we both know that isn't true."


	47. Chapter XLVII

**Content Warning: This chapter contains scenes involving gun violence.**

* * *

 **Chapter XLVII**

* * *

It felt as if an eternity had passed before the elevator doors opened on their floor. Giana took a running start, darting out and into the hallway. Ulrich practically flew to catch her, the bright yellow streak from his superspeed a stark contrast to the dim lighting. He vibrated to a halt in front of a door that required an access badge and grabbed the girl around the middle to stall her as they waited for the others.

"Let go of me, Ulrich!" she cried, clawing the air. She landed a back kick to one of his knees, which only made him stiffen even more.

"What are you gonna do when you get in there?" he demanded. "We need a plan! You can't go alone!"

She made herself disappear. " _This_ is my plan!"

"You're crazy!"

"LET ME GO!"

"Miss De Luca! Stand down!" Agent Cole commanded, having caught up to the duo. "That's an _order_."

Defeated, the girl stopped fighting and faded back into view. Ulrich let her go — he watched as she unsheathed her épée and slashed it across the wall to their right, the glowing blue blade leaving a mark.

"It'll be okay," he said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll fix this."

Xander, frowning, steeled himself as he made his way to the front of the group and produced his access badge — Sissi had given it back to him after they'd stolen it when he was unconscious from the stun gun. Holding it in front of the reader, the boy bit his tongue as the light flashed green, and they heard the click of the door unlocking.

He reached out and took the handle, turning it. "Be on guard."

Weapons drawn, the group advanced forward. Agents Cole and Winn had switched the safety on their guns to off, while Jeremie and Aelita chose to clutch their vials of the virus instead of arming themselves.

* * *

William dodged two of the Men in Black agents fairly easily, knocking the guns out of their hands and hitting them with his sword, enough to cause some pain and blood loss, but not nearly so bad that it would kill them.

 _Two down, three to go,_ he told himself. Spinning on his heel, he landed a roundhouse kick to the sternum of the third agent while simultaneously knocking him in the side of the head with his stun gun.

The members of William's team weren't permitted to carry real bullets. He knew he was at a disadvantage.

He felt his feet leave the floor as something grabbed him from behind, pulling him up into the air. It was the fourth agent, a large, hulking man, crushing the boy with his strength, putting him in a chokehold.

He was starting to have trouble breathing. In a haze, he noticed the door to the scanner room open, Xander leading a group… of allies?

"Wh—" He vaguely noticed Jeremie. "Jer—"

Xander pulled out his gun and fired, catching the agent holding William in the back. He stood strong, barely budging, so Xander fired two more shots.

William crumpled to the floor, the agent on top of him, dead. Scrambling to his feet, he called up his sword again and used it as a makeshift shield, deflecting bullets from Director Greene.

"Why fight when you can join me?" she seethed, staring at her reflection in the shiny metal.

The boy narrowed his eyes. "I'd _never_ join you. Not again."

"You're not going to win this time, XANA!" Jeremie shouted, throwing one of his daggers. He caught one of the remaining agents in the side, the man falling to his knees, trying to remove the weapon.

It took a moment but the enemy managed, however the removal of the blade left him to bleed, with nothing to stop it.

Numb and ignoring the dying foe, William trudged forward, still holding his Zweihänder in front him for protection.

But he realized he wasn't being fired at.

Peering around the weapon, he saw Director Greene standing still, cold, calculating. XANA chose to cross the woman's arms again.

"Give up," Aelita said, her voice tight. "You've taken so much from us already — we—"

She was cut off as a flood of Men in Black agents emerged from the scanners lining the room, shots firing every direction. She noticed Odd had swiftly deployed his shield, protecting the two of them, as well as Nico, Sissi, and Jeremie. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Yumi, grappling with an agent twice her size, the girl eventually coming out on top.

"Odd." Aelita turned to her friend. "Let me through."

He shook his head. "Sorry, Princess, but—"

"Look."

He followed her line of sight: Director Greene was alone, forgotten in the fray. Realizing what the girl was indicating, he reluctantly disabled the shield for her to pass.

Aelita felt something hit her in the back, but it wasn't a bullet — it was someone's gun, or a piece of metal from the scanners. It hurt, but she kept going, her eyes locked on the Director's back, the vial held tightly in her right hand.

Everything was in slow motion. She vaguely heard Jeremie shouting in the distance for her to watch out, to stop, take cover, go back to them. But she ignored it, instead plunging the syringe in the back of the woman's neck. They were lucky XANA had decided to put her hair up.

Immediately, the body fell to the floor like dead weight. A black, swirly smoke, tendrils sweeping throughout the room, swelled up and out, shrouding their view in darkness.

* * *

Xander immediately put on his sunglasses. They doubled as night-vision goggles.

He noticed Giana near the center of the room, attempting to square off against two of his father's colleagues. But it was dark, and even though he could see, the thick smoke started to weigh on him; it was becoming hard for him to breathe.

One of the agents she was fighting had pulled out a gun.

He knew she wouldn't see it with the smoke.

The boy crept forward, using his own weapon — he shot the man in the arm, aiming clumsily, causing him to drop his gun. A shot fired from it as it hit the floor. He shouted in protest, whirling on the intruder, narrowing his eyes but barely seeing.

"You're a traitor," the man spat.

"And you're a thug." The boy shot at him again, this time in the chest. The agent, he thought his last name was Schultz or something, dropped to the floor with a _thud_.

The second agent was quicker, firing three shots in succession at the girl. One hit her right below the shoulder. She dropped her épée and started screaming a string of expletives in English while attempting to attack him with her bare hands.

* * *

The smoke cleared, having spiraled upwards like a rocket and into the atmosphere.

XANA, for the meantime, was gone.

It took a moment, but Giana was dazed as she stared up at the ceiling, the adrenaline taking over as she noticed the limp body on top of her.

She opened her mouth in a silent scream, finding two bullet holes: One in Xander's chest and the other in his forehead.

A lump formed in her throat. She couldn't breathe.

Scrambling out from under him, she knelt beside the boy and started administering chest compressions, something she vaguely recalled learning in Health and Wellness at her old school, when they'd covered first aid.

"Come on, Xander," she breathed, her voice breaking. "Wake up!"

Nothing.

"COME ON!"

It was no use, and she knew as much but refused to accept it. Shaking, she stood, turning on Agents Cole and Winn. They were in the middle of picking themselves up off the floor and wincing in pain.

"You said he had a quick-healing ability!" she accused.

Agent Winn's expression fell. "Miss… We didn't actually know—"

"HE'S DEAD!"

Nico cautiously approached his sister, a large bruise starting to form on his face. He reached out his hand to gently graze her left arm. "Giana—"

She let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"We need to get you all back to headquarters _right now_ ," Agent Cole said.

Giana fell to her knees. "HE'S DEAD!"

Aelita, timid, took a step forward. "You're bleeding."

There was a crackle in their ears. "Everyone except Agents Winn and Cole, get into a scanner."

They all flinched as Astrid's voice came over their comms units. The woman had lost video coverage from her position at the CIA, but she could still hear them.

She waited a beat. _"Now."_

* * *

"My sister's hurt!" Nico cried, falling out of his scanner. "We need medical attention!"

"Y-yes! Of course!" The DGSE agent sent to meet them scurried off to find a member of the med team.

"Yumi, I need help!" Sissi shouted. She'd been attempting to heal Giana's wound, but the girl was in such a state of hysterics that she couldn't control her powers, and had been flickering in and out of view. "I can't see what I'm doing!"

"Well, neither can I!" the older girl retorted. "Let go of her — I'm trying to work the bullet out but I don't want to hurt you!"

"SHE'S LOSING A LOT OF BLOOD! You could tear an artery or something!"

Yumi gritted her teeth. "I'm trying to hold her in place with my powers!"

"Where the hell is that med team?!" Nico screamed. He saw two scanners open out of the corner of his eye, William and Ulrich's shadows appearing in a cloud of steam. The older boy gripped the frame of the cabin's door, trying to keep himself upright. Meanwhile, Ulrich, with a bleeding gash in his leg, ignored his pain and blew out of the room with his superspeed to seek help.

William's vision cleared enough to notice the scene unfolding in front of him. Taking a few shaky steps forward, he fell to his knees and cradled his girlfriend's head in his lap before she disappeared again.

"Don't move her," Yumi ordered tersely, so focused on using her powers to delicately remove the bullet and hold their friend in place, that she failed to seek help tending to her own wounds: She had a gash on the side of her head from when she'd been slammed into a wall in the fight, her hair sticky with blood and sweat. The adrenaline was wearing off and it started to hurt, and the oncoming headache from overexerting her telekinesis wasn't helping.

"Stay with us," William murmured. He noticed Nico grimace as Giana squeezed his hand, the girl gritting her teeth and shouting in pain, a continuous stream of tears falling down her face.

"He's dead!" she cried, in English. "HE'S DEAD! HE'S DE— _HE_ —"

"Damn it!" Yumi sank to the floor, her own pain becoming too much, causing her to lose focus on extracting the bullet. "I can't—"

"MAKE IT STOP!"

Sissi could barely see her hands through the blood anymore. "We're trying!"

Giana tried to grab at the wound. Yumi's hold on her had broken.

"Don't move," William said, taking her hand to stop her. "Let Sissi do her thing."

A glance passed between them: Sissi shook her head once, quickly, panic in her eyes. She could only do so much.

The older boy, overwhelmed, offered her a single nod.

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT MED TEAM?!" Nico repeated. He hadn't noticed their exchange.

Three doctors rushed into the room from the elevator and shouted in a mix of French and English: "We're here!"

Two of them knelt down on either side of the group. One was attempting to assess Giana's injury; the other tried to coerce Sissi into letting go, and Nico and William into giving them space. "Don't move her," the woman said softly, but authoritative.

The third doctor, a younger woman, noticed Yumi and rushed to aid the girl in cleaning her wound, instructing her to stay awake — it was very likely she had some sort of concussion. When Yumi asked where Ulrich was, she replied: "Your speedster friend is in the med wing."

The first doctor frowned, focusing on the space between Giana's right shoulder and her chest. "We need to surgically remove that bullet. There's likely shrapnel lodged in her, too." She paused. "This isn't a sterile environment."

"We can't move her," the second doctor protested. Sissi's hands were completely covered in blood from healing, and it hadn't shown any signs of stopping. The doctor, frustrated and desperate, undid the scarf that hid her hair and used it to apply more adequate pressure.

"I can do it," Yumi offered, weak.

"No," the younger doctor said firmly. Yumi noticed the surname Oakley embroidered on her coat. "You did enough You need to rest."

She balled her left hand into a fist. "I need to help her!"

It was then that Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie materialized in the scanners, fighting nausea and fatigue, their bodies bruised and bloodied.

Jeremie stepped forward, frowning, focusing on Giana and the two doctors. "Where do you need me to teleport you?"

Dr. Andri, the one who'd removed her headscarf, had managed to pry Nico and William away from the girl. "Level Five, west wing. I'm sure you've been there before."

They trio were gone in a flash. Dr. Oakley had slowly coaxed Yumi to her feet. She locked eyes with Sissi as the group moved as one toward the elevator. "You both did wonderfully in helping your friend."

"We saved the world," Odd said, hollow.

Aelita offered a halfhearted groan in response.

"We're going up to the med wing," Dr. Oakley said. "We'll evaluate you, and then you all need to rest."

"I need to be with my sister," Nico protested.

"It may take them a while to extract the bullet," Dr. Oakley replied. The elevator doors opened and they exited on to the fifth level of the building. "I know you don't want to hear it, but there's nothing you can do right now except wait."


	48. Chapter XLVIII

**Chapter XLVIII**

* * *

"What do we have?"

"Female, sixteen, GSW to the upper-right quadrant—" Dr. Andri was cut off by Nico, yelling. "Get him out of here, _now_! Sedate him if you have to!"

"No!" he protested, as three more doctors attempted to coax him away. They resorted to grabbing him and escorting him forcefully from the room, the boy fighting every step of the way. "No! NO! _NO_! SHE'S MY SISTER! I—"

"Get me some O-neg," Dr. Andri ordered. Giana flickered from view. The doctor frowned. "That's been a problem. We need to get that bullet out of her."

* * *

"Giana?"

She opened her eyes but couldn't see. Blinking a few times, she managed to gain her vision back. The room was dim. She had no energy to respond to whoever was talking to her.

It hurt to breathe.

"Giana, it's okay," the doctor continued. She was nice. Fairly young, maybe in her early thirties. She spoke softly. "Can you squeeze my hand?"

She did, barely.

"Good job." There was a pause. "You just underwent major surgery to remove a bullet from your upper chest."

She closed her eyes again. Her throat hurt.

"You're okay."

* * *

Some time had passed. Her eyelids were heavy and the inside of her mouth felt like sandpaper. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep.

But she heard a faint beeping. Was it her alarm clock? Did she forget to shut it off?

No… It wasn't the same sound, she realized. Reaching out to her right, a shooting pain attacked her shoulder, and she felt something in her hand, the tube it was connected to taped somewhere on her upper arm.

Dreading what she might find, she slowly opened her eyes and tried to take in her surroundings. But her vision was blurry, even more so than usual; it was so bad that everything was just a wash of color, and she couldn't tell where one thing ended and the next began.

Everything was too bright.

It was a side effect from being under anesthesia, or having pain killers, one or the other. And she had an IV in her hand. And that beeping was from some monitor she was hooked up to.

"Oh, Giana, thank goodness."

It was her mother.

The next thing she knew, her parents were standing on either side of her, kissing her forehead and rambling about how grateful they were that she was okay, that they were _all_ okay, and how proud they were.

"Wha…" She blinked.

"You don't remember waking up in recovery?" Janine paused. "Of course not." She shook her head — she shouldn't have expected her to remember anything. "You saved the world, _mon chou_ ," she reminded her. "Those agents? They told us what you did, and we're so, so proud of you. We would've been here sooner, but…" Her voice broke.

"The CIA told us to stay put," Sal continued, clearing his throat. "We tried like hell to contact you and make sure you kids were okay, but once the Men in Black were defeated, they gathered everyone up and flew us here." He glanced briefly at Nico, who'd been asleep in a chair and was just waking up, groggy. Vega snoozed softly on a blanket on the floor next to him, rolled up into a ball.

"Mmm." The girl closed her eyes again. "Did I almost die?"

"Someone shot you and they had to remove the bullet, and you lost a lot of blood, but you're okay," her mother explained. "If it weren't for your friends…" She swallowed hard, trying not to cry. "You're okay."

Everything came flooding back: The fight. Director Greene's body falling to the floor as XANA escaped, the smoke clouding their vision but then disintegrating into the ceiling as the virus did its duty. Xander, throwing himself in front of her to stop the Men in Black's gunfire, only to die and for her to get shot anyway.

"Xander's dead," she whispered.

"We know." Sal stroked her hair. "They told us."

"He…" She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, wanting more and more to fall back to sleep. "He saved me."

"He was extremely brave," Janine admitted. "And he obviously cared very deeply about you, despite his actions in the past."

"What parent would fake their own child's death?" Sal spat.

"Not now," Janine warned. She frowned, her shoulders slumping. "Liam's going to live with that guilt for the rest of his life." She paused, looking back to Giana. "But… I still can't believe I never knew there was a secret, underground lab so close by when I attended Kadic."

"It wasn't built until the nineties or something," Nico mumbled. "Talk to Franz about it."

"Shut up," his sister cried. "Just… let me sleep."

* * *

"Let me see her!"

"Mr. Dunbar, please." Director Paulson remained stoic. "You're under strict orders by our medical team to _rest_."

"I've been up for almost twenty-four hours!" the boy shouted. "You're not even letting us know if she's awake yet!"

"You are not Miss De Luca's immediate family," Avery countered. "Even though we're the CIA, medical confidentiality is still in effect."

He balled his hands into fists and leaned forward. "Don't tell me what to do—"

"William!"

He spun on his heel, rubbing his eyes and blinking several times as he realized his parents were entering Avery's office. Sebastian was right behind them, standing at attention by the door. He'd almost forgotten the Director's second-in-command existed.

"You need to obey this woman," his mother ordered, "and go to sleep."

He closed the distance between them, the trio falling into an embrace. "Mom, Dad." He started to cry. "I'm so tired."

James gave him a pat on the back. "We know."

The family broke apart, Cécile now holding her son at arms' length. "Come with us."

* * *

They had found themselves at the temporary guest quarters on the edge of the CIA's compound. "What did they tell you?" William asked, as Cécile unlocked the door to the small apartment.

"They gave us some information," James started, "but Director Paulson insisted you'd have more to share with us when you were ready."

He knew what that meant: They hadn't been told that their son had lost six months of his life because he was under XANA's control.

Exhausted, William sank into a sitting position on the sofa and buried his head in his hands. "You're going to think I'm crazy," he mumbled.

"Trust me." Cécile shed her coat and boots, then came to occupy an armchair while James started a kettle for tea. "After what they told us, nothing sounds impossible."

William stretched out on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. "I…"

His eyelids were heavy, so he closed them.

"I lost six months of my life."

He waited a beat.

"Because of XANA."

Cécile frowned, her green hair framing her face. It was worse than she'd thought.

James set three cups of steeping tea on the coffee table and looked to his son. "You were under that thing's control?" He sat in the chair next to his wife.

The boy nodded.

"Do you…" Cécile paused, unsure of herself. She didn't want to hear the answer, but knew it had to be asked: "Do you remember anything?"

William flipped on to his stomach and buried his head in a toss pillow. "Everything."

"That explains why you were so distant over the summer," James recalled. "And… and, I guess it explains the problems I had with Headmaster Delmas at the beginning of last year."

"They replaced me with a clone," William choked. "Jeremie, and Aelita — they had to do something, I don't blame them."

A glance passed between his parents.

"It was my fault, anyway."

Cécile shook her head. "No—"

"Yeah." He sat up, still clutching the pillow. "I was the one who convinced Aelita to go to Lyoko with me, just the two of us, without backup. And then XANA sent out the damn Scyphozoa, and it caught me, and then I was possessed — I hurt them!"

James put down his cup of tea. "William—"

"I hurt my friends!" He started to cry again. "I was in such a dark, desolate place, trying to fight for control over my own body and get rid of XANA on my own, but I couldn't do it, and it would be _months_ before they would find and deactivate the stupid tower that he was using to control me! I missed Christmas, my birthday — and now we're _here_ , in the U.S., and we fought _so hard_ , and Giana almost died—" He stood, throwing his arms in the air. "I just want to sleep! I want to forget about all of this!"

Cécile and James rushed to their son as he collapsed back into a sitting position, shaking, his body wracked with sobs. His mother held him close, while his father went to locate a box of tissues.

"It's okay," she said, trying to shush him. "You're here now, and you fought valiantly. You and your friends saved the world, you know that?"

"Y-yeah," he choked. James had returned with the tissues and he took one.

"You're a hero," his father said. "Don't you ever forget that."

William tried to calm down and take a deep breath. "I don't feel like one."

* * *

Jeremie sat in silence across from his parents in their small apartment on the edge of the CIA headquarters. It had been almost an hour, and no one had said anything.

The boy stared down at his hands. "I…" His shoulders slumped. "People died."

Michele, bags under his eyes, gave his son a sad nod. "We know."

He closed his eyes and hung his head. "This is my fault."

Nicole stood, joining her son on the sofa. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "No. You were the one who discovered the supercomputer after it was dormant for all those years. You saved Aelita."

"You committed cyber-crimes," Michele continued, "but that boy? Xander? His death is _not your fault_."

"It's not just him." A tear rolled down Jeremie's cheek. "There were others." His voice broke. "The attacks—"

Nicole handed him a tissue. "You did what you could."

"This will just… take a while for us to process." Michele leaned back in his chair. "We just wish you'd come and talked to us first."

"And tell you what?" the boy made eye contact with his father. "That I found a virtual world in an abandoned factory about a kilometer from school? That we fought monsters every day and traveled back in time before it was too late?" He stood. "That I freaking _brought someone to life_?! Faked her identity, committed fraud? Hacked into government agencies?" He was shouting now. "Replaced one of our classmates with a _clone_ for almost an entire school year because we thought we'd killed him?! How on _earth_ would you expect me to come to you with this, Dad? It's not like your run-of-the-mill teenage problems! People _died_! It was _my fault_!"

"Calm down, Jeremie." Michele stood and went to his son and wife, coaxing the boy to sit again. "You've been through a lot — we can't even begin to imagine the scope of it. But _you did not kill anyone_. Do you understand me? Waldo was the one who created Lyoko and built the supercomputer, and XANA. That's what we were told by Director Paulson and Agent Collins."

The boy hung his head. "Someone shot Giana."

"Because they had a gun, and they were trying to kill her," Nicole explained. "You were all in that situation together — any one of you could've been critically injured."

Michele nodded. "She's right. This isn't because of you, Jeremie."

* * *

Ulrich's father stood at the window, his back to his wife and son. Isabelle had busied herself with preparing something for them to eat, while Ulrich sat stock still in an armchair, pretending to be fascinated by the picture above the sofa.

"I want to ground you," Walter said in a low voice.

Ulrich bit his tongue. His leg still throbbed, and he knew in the back of his mind that the injury he suffered would add another scar to his collection.

His father relaxed his shoulders, turning to face into the room. "I know I haven't been good to you." He went to stand by his son. "However, I can see why you've been under a lot of stress."

Isabelle pursed her lips. "Walter—"

"No wonder your grades have been suffering," the man continued. He sat down across from Ulrich. "Late nights, fighting monsters…" He shook his head. "We had no idea."

"You were never that welcoming to begin with," Ulrich snapped. "You really think I would've opened up and told you everything? If anyone found out about the supercomputer, Aelita would've been killed." He frowned, a lump forming in his throat. "Hell, Giana had a bullet in her and we don't even know if she's awake yet." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked over to the window. "People _did_ die."

"That boy is not your fault," Isabelle reminded him.

"I know." Ulrich stared at the floor. "I know." He repeated. "And we saved the world." He paused, facing his parents. "But you know what? I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

* * *

"I tried to help her, Daddy."

Sissi sat with her head in her hands, shaking. Her father extended a cup of tea and a tissue, frowning and hanging his head when she ignored the gesture. "I know. You and Yumi did a wonderful job."

"It wasn't good enough!"

"Sissi, dear, I'm sure they're doing everything they can." Jean-Pierre put the cup of tea down. Sissi took the tissue and dabbed at her eyes. "I am so very proud of you, you know. Not only for trying to save your friend, but for protecting the world. Had I known there were monsters and an entire virtual world, mere kilometers from the school, well…" He paused. "Well, I don't know what exactly I would've done."

"I had to lie to keep you safe," she confessed. "And if we'd told anyone what was really going on, they would've taken Aelita."

"I understand that now." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad I finally know what was going on. And that Jim was here to help keep you all safe. I may not show it all the time, but I trust and respect that man deeply."

Sissi looked up at him, offering a small smile. "I know."

"Now." He stood. "It's late. You need to get some sleep, alright? I'm sure everything will be better in the morning."

* * *

"Yumi…"

She couldn't bear to look at them. She felt her mother's hand on her back as she sat, hunched over, her head in her hands. Her father busied himself with making tea and something to eat. Hiroki sat motionless, staring out the window at the night sky.

Akiko lowered her head and frowned. "We want you to know that we're so, so very proud of you."

Takeho nodded. "Your mother's right." He brought the trays of tea and food over to the coffee table. "Although you did spend a majority of your time lying to us over the last few years, you were brave and honorable in protecting your friends, and the rest of the world."

Yumi let out a halfhearted groan in response.

"I'm sure your friend will be fine, honey," her mother said, reading her thoughts. She stroked her hair, careful to stay clear of the stitches on the side of her face. "You and Sissi did everything you could."

Yumi fell to her side on the sofa, curling up into a ball. "I never wanted this," she admitted. "I wanted to shut it down as soon as we got Aelita. But then XANA wouldn't stop, and he captured William, and he almost killed us and destroyed the world." A tear rolled down her cheek. "And people _did_ die, and were hurt, and yet I still feel terrible."

"I see how you look when you talk about your friends. You love them so fiercely that you'd move heaven and earth to protect them." Akiko covered her daughter with a blanket. "And you did."

Hiroki, unsure of himself, fidgeted a moment before asking: "So that wasn't a dream, when you threw me out of the way with your mind and made the lights explode and stuff fall out of the cabinets? You can really do that?"

Yumi, for the first time in what felt like a century, actually smiled and let out a laugh. "Yeah. I'll show you."

* * *

"Odd, we just don't know why you didn't say anything sooner."

Marguerite busied herself with making food while Robert paced in the tiny apartment's living room.

"You could've come to us," she continued. "We would've helped you!"

"Helped me, how?" her son questioned. "You're always too busy doting on me and then turning a blind eye when the girls make my life a living hell! I liked having my secrets because I _knew_ I wasn't the perfect son you always saw, always talked about with your friends and coworkers. I was a hero, but I lied to you and got way too deep into all of this that we ended up _here_ , having to save the world and fight a bunch of adults with guns!"

"Odd—" Robert stopped pacing.

"I loved being the hero," he continued, ignoring his father. "But I was scared. And I'm _still_ scared. Sure, we supposedly defeated XANA. But every time we thought we'd done so in the past, he's always come back to haunt us!" He flopped down on the sofa. "I'm done fighting."

His father came to sit next to him. "I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through. But I want you to know that we all love you, no matter what. And, we never once turned a blind eye to everything the girls put you through — we always made sure they were punished."

"Your father's right," Marguerite added. "Plus, if we could do it all over again, we'd take Aelita in in a heartbeat, just like we did this time. Although, it is nice to actually know her entire story…" She shook her head. "Odd, we do love you, and I know we dote on you too much. That's something we're trying to work on. We know you're your own person and we respect you for that, and we're so proud of you for what you've accomplished."

Odd relaxed. "Okay."

Robert offered a small smile. "You'll always be a hero to us, son. Don't ever forget that."

* * *

"This is _your fault_!"

Franz took a step forward. "Aelita—"

"No." His daughter turned her back on him, facing the window. D.C. was covered in lights, the people bustling about that night blissfully unaware of the danger they all just avoided. Of what Aelita and her friends had gone through to save them. "This is all because of you," she whispered, her voice breaking. "You—"

"What else was I supposed to do?" he inquired. "I was trying to save the world. I never meant—"

She spun around and jabbed a finger at him. " _WE_ SAVED THE WORLD! It was _us_! You sat back and watched — you caused all this and people died, Dad, and one of my best friends was nearly killed, and _you didn't do anything to stop them_!"

"I was dead set against you going," Anthea said tightly. "I told them — you're _children_! You shouldn't have—"

"Who else?" Aelita demanded. "Tell me, Mom. WHO?!"

They were silent.

"I WAS TRAPPED FOR TEN YEARS!"

Franz looked to the floor. "We know."

"And William! He was captured, too, lost six months of his life — and _he remembers everything_!" She started crying. "I spent almost two years trying to find you! I wanted you back in my life and I wanted us to be a family again. But I hate you! I can't— _I can't_ —"

She felt as if she couldn't breathe. Her vision blurred with tears, she ran from the room, grabbing her coat on the hook.

"Where are you going?" Anthea demanded.

"Away from here!"

"Aelita—"

Pulling the door open, she slammed it shut after her as she escaped from the CIA's guest quarters. She kept running.

Exasperated, Anthea turned to her husband. "Waldo—"

"What do you want me to do?" He sank into an armchair. "I never asked for her to be trapped! I never _asked_ for Jeremie to find the supercomputer! I—"

"If he hadn't found it," she started, crouching down to his level, "then we wouldn't have our daughter back." She rubbed his arms. "We need to try and fix this."


	49. Chapter XLVIX

**Chapter XLVIX**

* * *

"'It wasn't my fault'," Aelita muttered, mocking her father. "'What was I supposed to do?' _Hmph_." She made a ball of ice and kicked it angrily, trudging along the snow-covered, lit pathways of the CIA's compound.

"Aelita?"

Stopping short, she went rigid before her eyes adjusted and she spotted William up ahead, walking in her direction.

He frowned, concerned. "Hey, what's going on? Are you okay?"

She stuffed her hands in her pockets, mentally berating herself for not grabbing a pair of gloves. "I needed to get away from my parents."

"What happened?"

"What _didn't_ happen?" she scoffed. "They took advantage of me and trapped me for ten years, and then they return only to sit back and watch us do all their dirty work!"

"I think you're holding on to a lot of resentment toward them."

"So?"

He went silent.

"You should be the one to talk, William — XANA caught you and made you his prisoner!"

"Yeah, but that was my own fault!"

"My father created him!"

He deflated, checking his smart watch. "It's almost midnight, Aelita… Come on. Let's go back."

She stared at the ground, paused, and looked back up at him. "Wait. Where were _you_ going?"

"I—" He blushed. "Um. Well, I was uh…" Rubbing the back of his neck, he avoided eye contact. "I took a nap, and now I'm on my way to the med wing. I need to see Giana." He started walking again, this time with a new sense of purpose.

She followed, going faster to keep up. "They won't let us near her, you know that."

"I can turn to smoke," he said confidently. "I don't give a _damn_ what they'll let us do."

* * *

It took a while to get through the various security checkpoints, but the duo found themselves in the main building's medical wing. It was quiet, and the lights were dimmed. There wasn't much activity to be had.

"Okay," Aelita started, the two of them crouched around the corner from a nurse's station. "Do your thing."

William concentrated, narrowing his eyes. He'd never had issue calling up his powers before. Something was wrong.

"I…" He fell against the wall, having exerted too much energy. "I can't."

She balked. "What do you mean you _can't_?"

" _I can't turn to smoke_ ," he answered, gritting his teeth and trying again.

"Hmm." Noticing a tray out of the corner of her eye that held a pitcher of water, the girl focused, attempting to move the liquid, turn it into a ball of ice or connect with it in some way. But she couldn't.

William let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as they slid down the wall into sitting positions. "What the hell?"

"Power-dampening sensors."

The teens turned pale as they looked up at Sal, who held a tray of food and hot drinks in to-go cups. He'd addressed them in French.

"Mr. De Luca!" William scrambled to his feet, straightening up. "We were just—"

"Attempting to sneak into my daughter's hospital room," the man surmised. "It's a pleasure to see you again, William. And you must be Aelita."

The girl blushed, casting her gaze to the floor. "Sorry, sir."

He gave them a faint smile, gesturing for them to follow. "It's alright, I would've done the same. Come with me."

"So…" William stole a glance at his girlfriend's father. "Power dampeners?"

Sal nodded. "Supposedly the CIA came up with the idea shortly after they were aware of your abilities." He paused. "With help from the NSA, they were installed in this part of the building yesterday, as Giana kept disappearing when they were prepping her for surgery."

"How is she?" William asked. "I tried to see her earlier, but… they wouldn't let me."

Sal suddenly felt very tired. The kids noticed as much. "She was awake and talking earlier, but for the most part she's been sleeping. They got the bullet out, but it was a very long and delicate procedure, and the way it was lodged in her they were very close to severing a major artery." He stopped, turning around to face them. "You kids were there… What happened? Was it really as bad as they said? Nico won't talk about it."

A glance passed between them. Aelita hung her head, and William let out a breath.

"Yes," the boy replied. "It was awful — worse than that, even." He shook his head, trying to banish the memories of their fight. "I can carry that if you want, sir."

"Huh?" Sal looked at the tray he was about to drop. "Oh— Yes, thank you. And please, call me Sal. Both of you."

The door to the girl's room flung open as they approached, and Janine was there, shouting in English: "She's not breathing!"

Immediately, three nurses and a doctor rushed into the room, brushing past everyone and nearly knocking William and the food over in the process. One of them was shouting about needing a crash cart.

"Push one of epi!" Dr. Andri ordered. "This could be an allergic reaction — give me those!" A nurse handed her a pair of paddles. "Charge to two-hundred!"

"Clear!" they responded.

She shocked her.

Nothing.

"Charge to two-fifty!"

"Clear!"

Again, nothing.

"Oh my god!" Janine cried.

"Charge to three-hundred and get them out of here!" Dr. Andri ordered.

The woman shook her head. "No—"

"Clear!" a nurse responded.

One of the nurses took Janine by the arm and led her from the room. "Ma'am, the best possible thing you can do for your daughter right now is to let us do our jobs." He noticed William and Aelita. "You two shouldn't be here."

"Come on, kid," the doctor pled. "Charge to three-fifty!"

"Clear!"

* * *

 _It was quiet._

 _Giana opened her eyes to find nothing but white. A moment later, the scene shifted, showing a small park in Cambridge._

 _She watched as younger versions of herself and Xander took a walk, coming to sit on a bench in a secluded area. They'd left his and Jack's Bar Mitzvah party, slipping away unnoticed._

 _She couldn't hear them, but knew the conversation well. They'd both expressed their feelings for each other, and shared their first kiss._

 _"What the hell are you doing here?"_

 _She whirled around to find Xander, from the present-day, scrutinizing her with a concerned look on his face. He still wore the Men in Black uniform._

 _Crossing his arms, he frowned. "Well?"_

 _"I…" She blinked._

" _I didn't die for you to end up here, too," he continued. His expression softened. "Wow."_

 _Looking down, she realized she now wore her grown from the_ Bal _._

 _"You're beautiful."_

 _Closing the distance between them, she pulled him into an embrace, resting her head on his chest. "Thank you."_

 _He knew she wasn't referring to the compliment. "I meant it when I said I'd do anything for you."_

 _"I'm sorry, Xander."_

 _"Don't be. I should be the one apologizing to you. I put you through so much."_

 _They stayed like that for a moment, observing their younger selves start to head back toward the synagogue._

 _He broke away, holding her hands. "You need to go."_

 _She shook her head. "I can't, I… I'm afraid."_

 _"You'll be fine. And, so will I." He let go as he started to slowly disappear. "But people need you, Giana. You have to wake up."_

* * *

"Got it!" Dr. Andri exclaimed. She felt relieved as the girl started to breathe again, taking a moment to exhale and center herself. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do: The IV site is red so I'll need you to flush it, take it out, and inject a new one into her other hand."

Giana groaned. "No…"

"Hey, Giana, can you hear me?" the doctor asked. "We're going to give you a new IV and something else for your pain, okay? You had a bad reaction." She turned to a nurse. "Prep four CCs of Dilaudid followed by anti-nausea meds and a nerve blocker. Let's try Doxepin. I want her vitals taken every hour on the hour, and if something changes, you page me immediately. Got it?"

The nurses nodded.

"Good." She paused. "Also, update the system to flag her as allergic to Oxy and Toradol; get her an allergy band." She stole a glance at her watch, walking toward the door. "I'm going to talk to the parents."

The girl closed her eyes. "I want my mom."

One of the nurses got to work prepping a new IV. "She'll be here soon, don't worry." She started to peel off the tape that kept the needle in her right hand in place. "This might hurt."

* * *

"Sal? Janine?"

The adults stood. "How is she?" Janine demanded.

"She's alright—" Dr. Andri was overcome as the two adults hugged her. After they broke away, she continued: "We stabilized her and we're giving her a new IV with a different set of painkillers." She paused. "Does she have any allergies to medicine, metals, or plastics?"

Sal shook his head. "No."

"Well, we believe the severity of her injuries, coupled with the doses of Oxycodone and Toradol, was what caused her to crash. We're treating those as allergies right now and are starting her on a low dose of Dilaudid and anti-nausea medicine, as the painkiller is known to cause severe nausea, dizziness and vomiting. We're also going to try a low dose of the nerve blocker, Doxepin, to numb the injury site. The site of her IV looked to be infected somehow, so we're putting a new one in her other hand and giving her more antibiotics to boost the immune system."

Janine nodded. "Is she awake?"

"Yes, and she's asking for you." Dr. Andri noticed Aelita and William. "What are you two doing here?"

They exchanged a glance. "Uh, well, we, uh…"

"I called them here," Nico replied evenly.

The doctor raised an eyebrow.

"William's her boyfriend, and Aelita's one of her good friends… I dunno," the boy explained. "I figured she'd get sick of looking at us the whole time, or something. Plus, I heard William really gave Director Paulson a run for her money earlier."

"He's right." William nodded. "I was very persistent in trying to get here and see her."

Dr. Andri sighed. "Okay, fine. Just keep the noise to a minimum. I'm on-call tonight so if there are any more issues, I told the nurses to page me."

She walked away, leaving the group to head back into the room. Nico took the tray of food and left with his parents, William and Aelita hanging behind in the waiting area.

"Come on," she urged lightly.

"I— I can't." He sank down into a chair. "I can't go in there."

She sat down next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay."

"She died! She—" He started sweating, pulling at his shirt collar. "Why—"

"You're having a panic attack," she explained. Standing, she placed herself in front of him and rested both hands on his shoulders to keep him still. "Look at me."

"I—" It was hard to breathe.

"Look at me, William."

He did.

"I know it's bad."

He nodded.

"But she's okay. She's alive." She swallowed hard, holding back tears. "I was scared, too."

"I love her so damn much, Aelita."

They hugged. "I know."

* * *

A week and a half had passed since the fight.

"Giana!"

The girl spun around, enveloped in an embrace by Jack. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shirt, instantly taken back to that night on the platform at the T station, where they both felt so alone after his mother had seen them kissing.

It had taken a while for the CIA to get into contact with them and arrange for transport to D.C.

She felt a lump forming in her throat, remembering what she had to tell him.

She winced, but didn't let him notice. She was still in pain from when they removed the bullet.

He pulled away, still holding on to her shoulders at arms' length. "Where is he?"

"Jack—" Her voice broke. "Jack, we need to talk."

She grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the others, instructing Vega to find the room she was shown earlier. Members of the U.S. military and French Armed Forces stood at attention, saluting or bowing as they passed, addressing her as "Miss" and " _Mademoiselle_." She ignored them, trying to keep a straight face, as she pushed open a heavy mahogany door, closing it once she, Jack and Vega were inside.

He turned to face her. "What? What happened?"

She was silent for a moment, going to sit gingerly on the edge of a chaise lounge, instructing Vega to settle at her side.

Jack remained stoic. "Giana, you're scaring me."

"He saved me," she said simply, clearing her throat. "There was a fight, and he—" She couldn't bring herself to finish. Her vision became blurry with tears.

"Who?"

She wiped her eyes with a tissue. "Xander."

Jack sank down beside her. "I was asking about my father," he clarified. "Xander—" He stopped himself, a lightbulb going off in his head. "No."

"Your father faked Xander's death."

He stood abruptly. "What the _f_ —"

"They moved to D.C.," she continued, cutting him off, "and he recruited him to the Men in Black." She paused. "What did they tell you?"

"They…" He deflated, sitting down again. "They said you and your friends saved the world. That my father's in prison for life due to a number of crimes against the human race."

"I thought they would've _at least_ —" She shook her head and silently cursed whoever had debriefed him.

"So." Jack held his head in his hands. "Xander was alive this _whole time_?!" He stood again, grabbing a toss pillow and hurling it across the room. It hit a vase, toppling it over, the ceramic smashing on the floor. "It was all my father's idea, and he didn't tell _anyone_ , and he just let him get killed!"

"Your dad didn't know until after the fact," she explained, quiet. "He… He wasn't there."

"I hate him," the boy seethed. "I HATE HIM! How _dare_ he—" He stopped himself, turning abruptly and leaving the room.

Giana sprang to her feet, but the room started spinning. She braced herself against an end table. "Where are you going?"

He didn't answer, pushing past the guards and agents, the members of the military, and her friends, a permanent glare on his face.

"Jack!" she shouted, running out of the room, fighting the nausea. "JACK!"

She grabbed Vega's leash and handed her off to an FBI agent, stumbling down the hall after the boy.

"Jack, _wait_!"

William grabbed her hand as she ran past, the momentum causing them to spin in a circle. "Hang on," he said.

"He—" She felt herself start to fall from exerting too much energy. Caught by William and Nico, the boys steadying her, she took a few deep breaths. "He ran, I— I told him—"

"Calm down," Nico urged.

"I need to go after him!" she cried.

"Okay." William took her hand and the two turned to smoke in the floor, chasing after their target.

"Cool," Nico called, starting to run. "I'll meet you there I guess!"

* * *

Jack burst through to a room with a holding cell, three guards present. They were about to draw their weapons, but seeing as it was just a sixteen-year-old boy, they relaxed the slightest bit.

" _Monsieur_ ," one of the members of the Armed Forces started, but was cut off by the boy telling them angrily to shut up in French.

He gripped the bars of his father's cell, the man with his back to him, facing the wall.

"What the hell was your plan, anyway?" Jack accused, in English, fuming. "Faking Xander's death, bringing him to D.C., going through with whatever your crazy terrorist mission was? WE ALL THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD!"

His father stayed still, letting out a breath. "You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

"Like _hell_ I wouldn't—" He tried to reach in and grab him, but the door to the room opened suddenly, Giana running to stop him. The others were right behind her.

William's powers had cut out as soon as they entered the building. It made sense they'd install power-dampening sensors in the same place they housed the criminals.

"Jack, calm down!" She took his arm and tried to pull him away, but she still had little energy. "It's not worth it!"

Liam let out a hollow laugh. "I wonder what Xander would've thought if he'd known his twin brother and ex-girlfriend had kissed each other, on more than one occasion, after he was presumed dead?"

Giana let go of her friend and turned to the others. "I—"

"Hey." William's expression softened. "What you did before we met is your own business."

"We already mourned!" Jack continued, ignoring the jab. "You're expecting us to observe shiva AGAIN?!"

"I didn't know they were Jewish," William mumbled.

Nico rolled his eyes.

"You let Xander die, Dad!" Jack cried. "Who the hell did I see in the car at home earlier this year? Who did we bury?!"

The man was silent.

"I dyed my hair so I could look at myself in the mirror again!"

"He sacrificed himself for me!" Giana shouted.

Everyone, save Liam, turned to face the girl.

"Jack." Her shoulders slumped. "They had guns. I had to have a bullet removed from my chest and almost died in the process." She swallowed hard. "Xander must've seen what was going on through the smoke and threw himself in front of me to take the remaining gunshots."

"It was a careless thing of him to do," Liam muttered.

"You don't get to say that," Nico seethed.

Liam raised an eyebrow.

The boy stalked over to the cell, jabbing a finger between the bars. "Xander put my sister through hell and back. He tried to change recently, and he helped us. But to use himself as a human shield? That's not careless. That's _selfless_."

One of the guards tried again: " _Monsieur_ —"

"Shut _up_!" Nico snapped. He turned to Liam again. "You don't get to talk to her — not now. Not after what you did."

Jack approached his father again, standing next to Nico. "How do you expect me to tell Mom? Or Micah and Andrew, for that matter?"

"The Agency will take care of it," the man mumbled.

Defeated, Jack turned away and headed for the door. "I hope you rot."

* * *

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Jack shook his head. "No."

"Okay." Giana leaned back. They were in one of the apartments at the edge of the compound. "Well, uh… What've you gotten for Hanukkah so far?"

He let out a short, sardonic laugh. "A Switch, actually. And some games for it." He smiled. "Micah had his Bar Mitzvah last month. It was fun."

"I remember when you and Xander had yours," she recalled. "That was actually the first time he'd kissed me."

"You were always too good for him."

She blushed. "I know. You told me before I left for Kadic, remember?"

How could he forget? She'd come over to cheer him up and try to get him to talk, after months of silence. He had finally opened up to her, and they yelled at each other and she cried, and they kissed, and she ran out with her box of things she'd left at their house that Xander wouldn't give back.

Then she'd returned later that night in search of answers to Xander's suicide, and Jack kissed her again but his mother caught them, and Giana ran but he caught up to her at the T station where they had caused a big scene. But it was okay because they figured they'd never see those people again anyway.

It had been the start of something but not really, as she'd left for Kadic two weeks later and he knew he had to let her go. She'd outright said she couldn't do it, the two of them being together after what happened with Xander. And he couldn't blame her.

"Tori told me about William," he said.

She straightened up, looking at him from the sofa.

"Are you happy?"

She relaxed. "Yeah." Smiling, she continued: "It started out weird, but… He's really a great guy."

"Good." He moved to sit next to her. "After everything…" He paused, thinking a moment. "I dunno, Giana, I'm just really glad you're happy."

"Thanks, Jack." She paused. "I know about you and Tori."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Last month, Aelita and I were on a mission to destroy a Replika supercomputer under Boston City Hall, and… Well, we were by the Common, and I saw you with Tori, holding hands and laughing."

"Oh." He looked down at his hands. "I would've told you, but it was just that: A single date. And it was more two friends hanging out than anything."

"Alright. But Tori never mentioned it to me."

"To be fair, Gia, you never told us about this double life you've been leading ever since you started at Kadic."

"Yeah, okay." She yawned. "You're right."

"Do you want me to leave so you can take a nap?"

"I'm still really tired from the surgery," she said, frustrated. "I know it takes time, but this is ridiculous. It's been a week and a half!"

"It hasn't been that long, though. You'll get there." She stretched out, and he put a blanket over her. "It just takes time." He checked his watch. "I'm gonna go, anyway. I need to find the rest of my family. And someone from the CIA who can break the news to them about Xander. I just… I can't do it."

She closed her eyes. "You got this."

Grabbing his coat, he pulled open the door to the apartment to find William, who'd been poised to knock.

Raising an eyebrow, the boy faltered. "Oh. Hi, Jack."

"Hey."

"Who is it?" Giana mumbled.

"She wanted to take a nap," the boy explained.

"Where are the others?" William asked.

"I don't know, they're having a late lunch or something." Jack remembered he still held his coat, and took the time to put it on. "I'll see you later."

Shrugging, William entered the apartment and shut the door behind hm. Getting a pillow from one of the bedrooms, he went over to Giana, who was half-asleep.

"Hey," he said softly. "Here."

He gave her the pillow and she readjusted herself. "Thanks."

Kissing her forehead, he paused. "I can go. If you want."

"No," she half-whispered. "Stay."

"Alright." He took off his shoes and coat and put them by the door, then went to get two glasses of water. Placing them on the coffee table, he sat in the armchair across from her.

"It's been really hard," she rambled. "Xander. Jack. XANA."

"I know."

"I overheard that one doctor. She said I was dead for a minute."

"I know." He paused. "I was there."

She moved into a half-sitting position. "What?"

"Well, not _there_ , but… Aelita had run away from her parents, and I saw her on my way to the med wing to try and see you, and she came with me. The power-dampeners affected us so I couldn't turn to smoke, and then your dad found us, and then you crashed." He exhaled. "It's not something I want to remember."

"It's okay." She yawned again. "I don't really remember anything after the fight until the other day, when everything started wearing off."

"So, the whole time you were in the hospital?"

"It was like some weird dream I had."

He laughed. "You talked a lot. Told everyone you loved them. Even Odd, who was kind of being a pain in the ass."

She smiled. "That sounds about right." Frowning, she looked down at the blanket, concentrating on the colorful pattern. "I saw Xander."

The boy straightened.

"When they were trying to revive me," she clarified. "He told me to wake up. He said that people needed me. He even apologized for everything." She leaned back and closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted. "I haven't told anyone. Not even Jack."

William came to sit next to her, pulling her closer. She leaned into him and he kissed the top of her head. "I'm so, so sorry." He rubbed her arm. "But, he was right: We do need you. I need you."

They were like that for a while, until his phone chimed. Looking down at it, he frowned — they'd all gotten the same message from Director Paulson.

"No…"

"What?" Giana sat up, looking around for her phone. "Do you know where—"

"The President of the United States, against the wishes of the CIA, FBI, NSA, and French Armed Forces… He's holding a press conference tomorrow to declassify the documents."

She still felt foggy from the anesthesia and painkillers. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He waited a beat.

"William, you're scaring me. Tell me what's going on!"

"They—" He dropped his phone. "The whole world is going to find out. About Lyoko, the supercomputer, everything."

"No."

"It gets worse." He stood, going over to the window. "They're gonna know we stopped XANA."


	50. Chapter L

**Chapter L**

* * *

William bit his lip. "Hey, Giana, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"If you and Xander had your first kiss at his and Jack's Bar Mitzvah…" He paused, avoiding eye contact. "How come you were only with him for a year?"

"We were thirteen," she explained, as if it were obvious. "Nothing was made official until high school."

He nodded. "That's fair."

There was a knock at the door. He got up to answer it.

"Did you see this atrocity?!" Jeremie exclaimed, holding up his phone with the message from Director Paulson. The others were right behind him.

"Yeah," William huffed. He stepped aside.

"Come in," Giana said dryly. "Make yourselves at home! I was just about to take a nap."

"Sorry." Aelita replied, sympathetic. "But this is important."

"What are we gonna do?!" Yumi asked, frantic. "Paulson called a meeting with our parents to go over security procedures. Do you realize what kind of targets this press conference will put on our backs?!"

Giana looked around the room. "Where's Hiroki?"

"He's with Jack and his brothers," Ulrich explained. "He offered to hang out with him while their mother's still being debriefed."

The girl buried her head in her hands. "We have to do something."

"Well, we can't exactly eavesdrop," Jeremie said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they had those power dampeners all along the top floor of the main building."

A mischievous grin spread across Odd's face. "We can try."

"I haven't tried to disappear since I had surgery," Giana explained. "And, even if I could, I doubt I could hold it very long, let alone project it on to someone else. I'm still not a hundred percent."

"It's okay," Nico replied. He fidgeted, staring at his phone. "I think we should just wait."

* * *

"How did he even find out, anyway?" Michel demanded. "I thought you told us that the President was only on a need-to-know basis, and even then, he didn't have all the information!"

"I don't know," Avery responded, concentrating on her tablet. "I haven't spoken to him directly, but I have been going back and forth with his media correspondent and the Secret Service, and am continuing to urge them to tell him to call this meeting off. It's dangerous."

"If this news gets out…" Akiko shook her head. "Not only would we be in danger, but it could very well cause panic among the general public."

"Exactly." The Director leaned back in her chair, pressing a button in her desk. "Agent Collins? I need you here, ASAP."

"Right away, ma'am," he responded.

"Where are the leaders of the FBI and NSA?" Robert inquired. "And the DGSE?"

"They're doing damage control," Avery replied.

"How could I not have known?" Janine wondered aloud. "My mother had called and told me to talk to Giana because she kept missing their dinners, giving all these excuses about having to study more, or not feeling well. I never would've thought…"

"This is not a commentary on how you are as a parent." Nicole put a hand on her shoulder. "Hell, Jeremie's been the ringleader of this operation for the last three and a half years and my husband and I had no idea whatsoever."

"One of my children almost died!" Janine cried. "Twice, that we know of!"

"This is all my fault."

Everyone looked to Franz, the man standing with his back to them. He was staring out the window, concentrating on the city below.

"I should've destroyed everything when I had the chance," he continued. "Shut it down from the inside, instead of just putting it into sleep mode. These last three and a half years could've been avoided."

"But that would've killed both you and Aelita," Anthea pointed out.

"It would've stopped XANA," he said simply. "What are the lives of the few compared to those of the many?"

"Listen to yourself, Waldo!" Jean-Pierre shouted. "They are _children_ — they need to be protected!"

"That's what I've been saying the whole time!" Anthea exclaimed.

"They're kids, but they're strong," Jim said quietly.

Everyone turned and focused their attention on him, now, the man leaning against the wall near the door. It opened suddenly, Sebastian breezing into the room. Jim had been mostly quiet ever since the fight at the Men in Black compound, taking the time to reflect.

He blamed himself mostly. If he'd been there, maybe he could've stopped those terrorists from killing Xander and wounding Giana. But he was only qualified to sit back and watch with the technicians and the Schaeffers.

"We need to hold our own press conference," Avery realized, resigned. "Within the hour. It's the only way."

Marguerite blanched. "How do you expect—"

"Like I said, the President only has partial information." The Director stood, pacing. "We can't let him go out there and declassify the documents with only some of the facts. No…" She was talking more to herself now. "We have to do it ourselves."

* * *

There was a knock at the door. "This is Agent Holloway from the NSA!" a woman announced.

Nico got up to answer it.

"We've intercepted your mail," she explained in English, handing him a large box filled with envelopes from the last week and a half. Peering inside the apartment and noticing the rest of the kids, she continued in French: "Other agents will be going around to your assigned living spaces later tonight and delivering any mail your families have received. I'm sorry this took so long." Turning on her heel, she left.

Nico closed the door, setting the box down on the coffee table. "I was supposed to have heard back from Columbia last week."

Odd arched an eyebrow. "They wouldn't have sent you an email?"

He shook his head, opening the box. "No."

Sifting through the letters, he mumbled about most of it being junk or bills until he found what he was looking for. Standing, he brought the box into the kitchen area and placed it on the counter, still clutching the packet in his left hand. He reclaimed his seat between Jeremie and Ulrich, staring down at the large, white square.

"I can't open it."

"Yes, you can," Giana urged.

"What if…" He thought a moment. "What if I'm accepted, and after the news gets out, they rescind it?"

The room went silent. No one had thought of the possibility.

"Not only will they know about my involvement with this," he continued, "but… our powers." He put the envelope down, shaking his head. "I can't do it. Not right now."

"Won't they be expecting a response?" Aelita questioned.

He was about to answer, but was cut off by a CIA agent barging into the apartment. She cleared her throat, addressing them in French: "The Director is requesting your appearance at her office immediately."

Jeremie frowned. "All of us?"

"Yes," the woman answered. "Come along."

* * *

Avery kept her expression neutral as the kids filed into her office, the agent who was sent to get them holding the door open. "Miss De Luca," she started, noticing Giana, "it's nice to see you up and about again."

"I just want to take a nap," the girl muttered in Italian.

The Director lent her a small smile. "You're aware I can understand you, correct?"

The agent who retrieved the Warriors exited the room once they were all situated. Avery reclaimed her spot at the desk, focusing her attention briefly on the computer monitor and her tablet, which was propped up on its stand. Both displayed incoming messages from her employ, as well as members of the FBI, NSA, and French authorities. Everyone was busying themselves, getting the word out to the media and extensively readying a last-minute press conference.

"This is the plan," the woman continued, now taking a seat. "We're going to hold our own press conference and tell the public the facts, as the President doesn't have all the correct information. If you need to alert any family members privately, you may do so; but, please be aware that letting this information out comes with a huge risk to everyone's safety." She paused, noticing the look on Giana's face. "I see you, Miss De Luca — yes, the Emersons will be notified shortly. As you're aware, they're attempting to process the loss of a family member."

Takeho focused on the kids. "Where's Hiroki?"

"He's with Jack," Yumi responded. Before her father could berate her, she continued: "He offered to watch him while his mother was at her debriefing."

"My plan is to address the media with exactly what took place over these last few years," Avery pressed, "and then we will have a limited time to field questions."

"Will this affect my acceptance into colleges?" Nico blurted out.

The Director arched an eyebrow. "It shouldn't." She took a sip from her cup of coffee. "Anything else?"

They collectively shook their heads.

She stood. "You may go. I'll alert you when we're ready."

* * *

Giana stared blankly at her phone, displaying Tori's contact card.

Nico looked up at her from his unopened letter from Columbia, tentatively. "You okay?"

"I have to tell her," she replied, quiet.

"She already knows something's up," he said, trying to comfort her. "Conway let something slip about Lyoko when we were at the Weber's."

She arched an eyebrow. "Conway?"

He forgot she didn't know. "Our FBI agent."

"I have to tell her," she repeated. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she pressed the call button.

The phone rang a few times before she finally picked up. "Are you okay?" were the first words out of her mouth.

"I—" She sank into an armchair. "I've been better."

Tori frowned, not that her friend could see it. "Last time I saw Nico, he said you guys were in danger. Then some FBI agent whisked him away and I haven't heard from you since! Giana…" A tear escaped her eye. "I thought something had happened! That man at the T station with the gun—"

"Xander's dead."

Tori blinked. "I know."

"No…" Giana took another deep breath, trying to calm herself. "I'm in D.C. Jack and the rest of his family's here — their dad was the second-in-command of the Men in Black before we saved the world and he was arrested. There was a huge fight, and people were shooting at us, and the room was clouded with smoke. I couldn't _see_. Somehow, I ended up on the floor, Xander having thrown himself in front of me as a shield. The gunshots knocked us back. He…" She started to cry. "He died instantly."

The line was silent.

"Tor?"

"He…" She felt as if she were going to be sick. "He was alive this whole time?"

Giana nodded, not that she could see it. "Their father faked his death. The body Jack found wasn't his."

"I saw it!" Tori shouted. "I saw _him_! There's _no possible way_ —"

"It wasn't him, Tor!" Giana cried. She jumped to her feet, pacing. Nico had long since left the room. "I guess…" She paused. "I guess I should start from the beginning: See, there's this factory in France, less than a kilometer from my school. And underneath the factory, there's a supercomputer, acting as a gateway to a virtual world. Lyoko."

"The FBI agent mentioned something about that at the Weber's."

She nodded. "Yeah, Nico told me." Staring out at the setting sun, she continued: "There are monsters on Lyoko, and my friends and I — and Nico, to a small extent — had been fighting them. They were sent there by XANA, an AI who's… who _was_ …" She stalled, trying to come up with something that made sense. "My friend Aelita — her father created Lyoko, and by extension, XANA. He intended to use Lyoko as a refuge and XANA as a military weapon or something, but the AI turned on him, and… Well, my other friends have been fighting XANA for years, long before I went to Kadic. They thought they'd defeated him, however he resurfaced shortly after I started, and after a few months of fighting tirelessly, both on Lyoko and in the real world… XANA's gone. For good." _We think._

She waited a moment.

"I know it's a lot." She twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "I just… I wanted to tell you before you heard it from the news."

Tori arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The CIA is holding a press conference soon. The President was supposed to be holding one tomorrow and declassify the documents related to this whole fiasco, but he doesn't have all the facts, so they're nipping it in the bud tonight."

The girl leaned back. "This is a lot to take in, Giana."

"Do you hate me? For not telling you right away?"

There was a pause. "No," she said finally, closing her eyes. "It was a big, dangerous secret that you had to keep. But I'm glad I know now. And I'm so, so grateful you're okay."

Giana flopped across the sofa, pulling the throw blanket over her. "I don't think I can do Xander's funeral, Tori. Not again."

"I know, Gia." She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. "Just… know that we'll all be there for each other."

She smiled. "I'm glad I got to talk to you." Looking up, she noticed Nico enter the living room. He started putting on his shoes. "I have to go."

"Call me again? Soon?"

"I will. I promise."

Ending the conversation, she sat up and stared in the direction of her brother. "Did Paulson summon us yet?"

"Yeah." He zipped his coat. "Get ready."


	51. Chapter LI

**Chapter LI**

* * *

"Good evening."

Avery stood behind a podium that had been set up in one of the larger multi-purpose rooms at the compound. Members of the media sat, poised with their microphones and cameras, rapt with attention as she stole a fleeting glance at the packet of papers prepared by her employ.

The kids' parents, as well as Jim, were all situated at the back of the room. The remained stoic, staring straight ahead. She noticed Jane and the rest of the Emerson family had just made their way into the room, finding the empty seats by the parents.

"As you may be aware," she continued, facing straight ahead, "the President had issued a statement about holding a press conference tomorrow to declassify some documents." She paused. "Unfortunately, we here at the CIA thought it would be best if he didn't, as the White House hadn't been given clearance to receive the full facts behind the information they wanted to disclose.

"How do I put this lightly?" She moved a lock of hair behind her ear. "We, as a civilization, have avoided a great danger."

She half-expected a reaction from the press, but they remained silent, focusing all their energy on her. She continued:

"We have been given permission by the French authorities to release this information to the public, as everyone has a right to know: Decades ago, a virtual world was created in an underground facility, located within the Parisian metropolitan area. With this virtual world, came an artificial intelligence — one that, due to no one's understanding, became sentient and focused on one thing: Taking over the world.

"This AI, XANA, had a connection to Lyoko, the virtual world. It would activate a tower within Lyoko, using it as a beacon of sorts to facilitate attacks in the real world. These attacks were usually localized to Paris and its surrounding cities, sometimes encompassing the whole of France. However, a few attempts to wipe out all of humanity were conducted — such as asteroids, nuclear attacks, chemical bombs…" She stopped herself, glancing for a brief moment down at the papers, rifling through them. "Teenagers found this lab, and, by extension, Lyoko, taking it upon themselves to fight XANA without the adults responsible for them knowing. They even made a friend, Aelita. This young lady was trapped within the supercomputer for a decade, and they brought her to Earth by way of extensive hard work and a scanner — which was, as we're aware, the only way to access Lyoko and fight XANA's monsters.

"They fought for three years, both on Lyoko and Earth, eventually coming to stop a robot army that XANA had been building to enslave the human race. They rescued another friend of theirs, William, a new recruit to their team who had been possessed by the AI and was trapped for about six months. Thinking XANA had been defeated, they shut down the supercomputer and moved on with their lives. That is, until a couple of months ago, when XANA came back."

An audible gasp rippled through the crowd. There it was: The reaction she'd been expecting.

"This meant," she continued, louder now, trying to quell the burgeoning questions as everyone attempted to speak over each other, "that they would keep fighting." The crowd quieted. "They gained two — eventually, three — new members of their group, bringing them to a total of nine. They dubbed themselves Lyoko Warriors. With help from the man who had created Lyoko — Aelita's father, Waldo Schaeffer — they came closer to finally defeating XANA once more, this time for good. Until, the Men in Black learned of their resurgence. Which meant we had to step in.

"Now, I know what you must be thinking: Why would agents here in the United States get involved with such international affairs? Well, two of the Warriors are citizens of our country, for one; second only to the fact that the Men in Black are heavily concentrated here, with smaller factions throughout the world, operating silently, in pockets. It was their initial goal to harness XANA's code and use him as a destructive weapon, starting a form of technological warfare that would surely end the human race.

"However, what we didn't know at the time, was that XANA had taken control of the head of the Men in Black. It was done so well, in such a stealth-like manner, that a tower hadn't even been activated. And we're still unsure as to how that was possible. This led to an infiltration of the Men in Black's headquarters, ending in an incredibly dangerous fight that turned fatal. One notable death is Xander Emerson, a Massachusetts native and son of the MIB's Second-in-Command, Liam Emerson. Xander was killed in battle, having thrown himself in front of one of our young heroes to protect her from gunfire."

She paused again, taking a deep breath.

"Intelligence reports so far have indicated that XANA was, in fact, defeated; the Director of the Men in Black, Vivian Greene, was pronounced deceased as soon as the AI left her body. He — XANA — had worked his way in like a worm, encompassing her to such an extent that there wasn't any trace of humanity left." She motioned discreetly to Agent Collins, who stood off to the side. "These teenagers were instrumental in assisting the authorities in the defeat of not only XANA, but the Men in Black. Through a fluke in the virtualization program, the powers they gained on Lyoko have been imprinted into their DNA, manifesting in the real world. Please." She put the papers down, giving her full attention to the audience. "Allow me to introduce them."

Sebastian nodded to Jeremie, indicating for the group to file out and take their places behind the Director.

"Jeremie Belpois."

Jeremie gritted his teeth, trying not to appear apprehensive as he walked out into the spotlight. He took solace in the fact that his parents were there to support him.

"Odd Della Robbia."

Odd, in an attempt to act cool and make himself look confident, sauntered out and stood next to Jeremie, flashing a large grin to the members of the media.

"Ulrich Stern."

Ulrich tried his hardest not to hunch over or stuff his hands in the pockets of the suit he'd been given, as he stepped out and took his place next to Odd. He would've rather been anywhere else than parading about in front of the entire world.

"Yumi Ishiyama."

Closing her eyes and exhaling, Yumi held her head up high as she passed Sebastian, taking her place next to Ulrich. She gave his hand a quick, subtle squeeze, hoping no one would notice.

"Aelita Schaeffer."

Aelita wasn't the least bit happy they'd used her given surname, but she didn't make a fuss. Trying to keep her expression neutral, she swiftly walked across the stage and stood next to Yumi, trying in vain to avoid eye contact with the media, and her parents.

"William Dunbar."

William sucked in a breath, a brief flashback of when he'd been introduced to society at the _Bal_ playing in his head as he came to a stop next to Aelita, trying not to loosen the green tie around his neck.

"Elisabeth Delmas."

Sissi grumbled internally about how she _hated_ being called Elisabeth, but wouldn't let anyone know as it really wasn't _that_ important. She took her place next to William, smoothing out a wrinkle in her dress and attempting not to fidget.

"Giana De Luca."

Similar to William, Giana remembered the time she'd been introduced into society at the _Bal_ , taking note as soon as the thought entered her head that this wasn't at all the same. She instructed Vega to go forward, stopping once they reached Sissi. She turned to face the people with their flashing cameras, mumbling praise to the dog and telling her to settle on the floor in front of them.

"Nico De Luca."

Exasperated, Nico ran a hand through his hair before walking out into the spotlight and stopping next to his sister. He faced forward like the rest of the group, trying his hardest to hold a neutral expression.

"They are heroes," Avery continued, "and should be recognized as such." She waited a moment as the members of the media applauded, flashes still emanating from their cameras. "There will now be some time allotted for questions."

A short reporter pushed through the group, holding out her microphone. "This is for one of the kids: How did you feel when you initially discovered the supercomputer? What were your thoughts?"

Avery translated the question in French so everyone was on an equal playing field. The group gave each other sidelong glances, mumbling down the line, eventually coming to the decision that Jeremie should be the one to answer. He stepped forward, now next to Avery, whispering a response in her ear.

"I was afraid at first," she said in English, translating. "I didn't know what it was doing in the factory, and for a brief moment, I thought I'd dreamt the whole thing. But then I met Aelita, and knew I had to get her out of Lyoko and into the real world, should we have any hope of destroying XANA." There was a pause. "Obviously, as you know, it wasn't as easy as we'd imagined."

The reporter nodded. "Thank you."

Another stepped forward. "Aelita: How did you feel when you found out you lost ten years of your life?"

William whispered the question in the girl's ear. She gasped, shaking her head. "Tell them I don't want to comment," she said softly, in a rush, taking a step back.

He nodded, taking Jeremie's place next to Avery but leaning into her microphone. "No comment," he said in English.

The reporter blanched. "But—"

" _No comment_ ," he repeated, forceful.

"Alright." He switched tactics. "William—"

The boy's expression darkened. "No."

"What was it like when your friends rescued you?" he shouted, in a rush. "How did it feel to be free?"

"I said _no_." William turned on his heel, reclaiming his spot between Aelita and Sissi.

Another reporter stepped forward. "This question is for the Emerson family, if they're here—"

"They will not be taking any questions," Avery interrupted, firm.

"Director—"

Her gaze hardened. "That's final."

Yet another reporter shouldered her way through. "This is for the group: Can you demonstrate your powers?"

"They will not," Avery responded, not bothering to translate. "Not here." She checked her watch. "Any further questions shall be directed to my assistant, Sebastian Collins, and will be answered in a timely manner. That will be all."

She swiftly walked off and exited through a side door, beckoning for the kids to follow. Their parents, as well as the Emerson family, quietly stood and exited through the back of the room, not wanting to call attention to themselves.

* * *

"I think that went well," Jim commented, once they were all situated in Avery's office again. "Relatively speaking."

"So, what does this mean for us?" Nicole questioned. "For our children?"

"As it is nearing the end of term," Jean-Pierre started, "I don't see a reason for them to return to Kadic until after the holidays. Hopefully that will allow some time for the excitement to die down." He paused. "I've left Suzanne in charge, and I have the utmost confidence she is doing a splendid job."

Avery nodded. "Agreed. International authorities are still doing a sweep to locate any sign of XANA, but the data so far is showing he's been eliminated. If you can all hold on until after the new year, we can arrange for a shutdown of the supercomputer in France." She eyed the Schaeffers. "Switzerland should be unplugged as soon as possible."

"I'll let my employees know," Franz responded.

The Director read something on her tablet. "Xander's services are set for this coming weekend, after the completion of Hanukkah. There are bound to be protests, given the nature of his death…" She put the device down. "Although the President isn't too happy with me right now, he did offer to lend some Secret Service agents to assist us in staking out the area. To keep you safe."

Ulrich leaned forward in his chair. "We're _all_ going?"

"Jack requested it," Giana replied, distant. "Since we were there when it happened."

"Do we… have to?" Odd asked.

"Out of respect, _yes_ ," his mother pressed.

Sebastian chose that moment to burst into the office. "Ma'am—" He noticed the rest of the group. "Ma'am, the President is requesting your appearance in his office immediately."

"I already told him that was out of the question," Avery shot back. "We already said what we needed to say to each other."

"No—" Agent Collins sank down into a chair, fidgeting. "He's requesting you _and_ the children."

There was a long pause.

"He is demanding that they demonstrate their powers."

"Do we… have to?" Aelita piped up, wary.

"Out of respect," her mother started, standing, " _yes_."

* * *

"Mr. President," Avery greeted, neutral.

"Ah." The man shook her hand. He turned his attention to the kids, addressing the group in French: "Welcome. First, I'd like to start off by extending my sincerest gratitude toward you for your services. You all did a tremendous job saving the world — however, I am deeply very sorry to hear about your friend."

"He wasn't our friend, sir," Nico responded, without missing a beat.

Giana elbowed him. "What my brother _means_ , is…" She took a step forward. "Thank you."

"Anyway." The President came around from behind his desk, stopping to lean against it. "I've called you here because I'm interested in seeing your powers in person. We have obtained the footage from the CIA's training sessions, at the discretion of Director Paulson; however, I'm sure your parents are also curious to see what their children can do."

Avery narrowed her eyes. "Sir, these kids will _not_ be used as military weapons. We've made that abundantly clear during our last phone call."

"I'm aware." His expression softened. "Has it been confirmed if the process will reverse itself once the supercomputer in France is shut down?"

"We're not sure," Franz responded. "The data from previous scans after their powers first manifested claim otherwise — my team in Zürich is almost positive that their abilities have been written into their DNA, as Director Paulson explained during the press conference. The safeguards in place malfunctioned somehow, and even after we were able to fix them, their powers are still here."

"Hm." He nodded. "Right. Well. If you'll please follow General Cameron, we'll make our way to a training ground to begin the process."

A woman in a military uniform stood at attention, wearing a neutral expression on her face as she beckoned for the kids and their parents to follow. Avery and Sebastian, at the back of the group, exchanged a glance, wary.

* * *

"Again."

The President leaned forward, watching with intent as Odd's shield flickered, bullets bouncing off it from several members of the military.

The boy, however, looked about as frightened as his parents felt. He wanted to let his guard down, but had to remain strong otherwise he'd be killed. Flashes of their fight with the Men in Black played in his head, and he felt weak, sweating.

"Stop!" Marguerite ordered. "That's enough." There was a brief pause. " _Sir_."

Avery nodded. "She's right, sir. Let's move on."

"Alright." The man motioned for the gunmen to stop. Odd, wary, dropped his shield and ran from the training field, collapsing into a chair between his parents. "The siblings are next, then we should be done."

"I can only sense oncoming danger," Nico asserted. "I don't know how you want me to demonstrate that."

"Fair." The man bit his tongue. "My apologies. Please, Miss De Luca." He motioned to Giana. "Demonstrate your powers for us."

Begrudgingly, the girl stood and walked to the center of the arena, facing the group with a neutral expression on her face. In an instant, she disappeared completely, an audible gasp rippling through the adults. A glance passed between her parents; they had heard of her powers through Avery and the medical staff, but hadn't witnessed them first-hand.

It only lasted about two minutes before she flickered back into view, wiping a hand across her brow. "Sorry," she mumbled, reclaiming her place with her family and the dog. "I'm still weak from surgery."

"That's quite alright," the President replied. "Thank you." Casting a fleeting glance down at his papers, he nodded once before straightening up. "I greatly appreciate you taking this time to demonstrate your powers for myself and members of the military." He paused a beat. "Although we certainly will not be calling upon you to use as weapons, as most of you are not citizens of this country anyway — please be advised that we will be keeping a close eye on your activity while in the United States. Do not, under any circumstances, use these powers for malicious intent." A Secret Service member whispered something in his ear. "That will be all. One of my assistants will show you out. You're free to return to the CIA. Director." He gave Avery a curt nod. "Always a pleasure."

She returned the gesture. "Glad we could help, sir."


	52. Chapter LII

**Chapter LII**

* * *

It was the following day. Arrangements were being made to transport everyone to Massachusetts. Giana had decided to spend some time away from the group, opting to seek out Jack. He hadn't said a word since the press conference.

"Come on, Jack," she pled. They were in his family's temporary quarters. "You can't shut down again."

He spun, his hands at his sides, balled into fists. "What do you want me to _do_ , Giana?!"

"Talk to me!" she cried. "We can't go another six months like this!"

"You left!"

"You _let_ me go! You said it was okay!"

He made a strangled noise. "You told me not to tell you to stay, remember?!"

Of course she did. "I NEEDED YOU, JACK!" She grabbed his shoulders. "Xander was under XANA's control and somehow got to France, and he attacked me in the factory and almost killed me, and _I couldn't tell anyone_ —"

"You saw him?!"

"I THOUGHT IT WAS A CLONE! I didn't realize it was actually him until the CIA confirmed he was still alive and with your dad!" She let go, averting her gaze to the floor. "It doesn't matter anyway." She shouldered past him and headed for the door.

"Giana, wait."

"He's dead!" she repeated for the thousandth time, turning to face him again.

He took a step forward. "I KNOW!"

"He died trying to _save me_!" She balled her hands into fists at her sides. "How the hell do you think that makes me feel?!"

"Like shit," he realized, quiet.

"I hated him so much for what he did before," she admitted, averting her gaze. "And I was finally able to move on. Hell, he had even tried to change — after one of our last encounters, before the fight…" She shook her head, trying to forget. "He helped Jeremie get us back. And he used his knowledge of the Men in Black to lead us right to where we needed to be."

Jack remained silent.

"One of the agents told him he was a traitor," she recalled. "And Xander killed him. Astrid said the surveillance footage showed that agent pulling out a gun and aiming it at me. It was right before the feed cut out."

"I just feel so _helpless_." He fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands. "If I'd known… I could've—"

"It's better you didn't." She knelt down across from him, gently placing a hand on his arm. "I couldn't handle losing both of you."

She felt him relax the slightest bit.

They remained like that, in comfortable silence, until the internal battle she'd been waging had come to a head: "I was dead," she blurted out.

He made eye contact with her, noticing her somber expression. "What?"

"There were complications after they removed the bullet," she explained. "I saw Xander. When they were trying to revive me."

He tried to keep his face neutral.

"We watched younger versions of ourselves share our first kiss the night of your guys' Bar Mitzvah," she continued. "I thanked him for saving me, and he apologized… And then he said he'd be fine, and that I should wake up." She closed her eyes. "I know it wasn't a dream."

"I believe you." He looked down at his hands. "It's just… I dunno. None of this seems real."

"That's how I felt when they took Sissi and I to the factory for the first time." She moved to a sitting position. "I didn't let them know, but I wanted to run. Immediately. I wanted to get Vega and go back to my grandparents' and then come home. I wanted to throw the key to my dorm room in the Seine, and for my parents to pull me out of Kadic. I didn't want to be involved." She felt a lump forming in her throat. "I didn't ask to save the damn world."

"Why didn't you leave?" he questioned. "You could've easily just walked right out and gone back to your room like nothing had happened."

"There was an attack," she explained. "And… I guess, there was a small part of me that kind of wanted the adventure." She paused, taking a deep breath, trying not to cry again. "Once Sissi and I had been virtualized, that was it. There was no going back. We were bound to the mission."

"I just… I can't believe I didn't know that wasn't him in the car." He stood, plucking a toss pillow off the sofa, gripping it tightly. "I'm his _twin_! I should've known something wasn't right!"

"Tori thought it was him, too," she heard herself say. "I… I called her to tell her everything before the press conference. I didn't want her to find out from the news." She paused a beat. "I'm glad I'm done with Lyoko."

"Why?"

"I always felt… _less than_."

His expression fell. "What do you mean?"

"When I was virtualized on to Lyoko, I was… _normal_." She got to her feet, closing the gap between them. "I could see everything, Jack. The monsters that came at us, from fifty — even a hundred! — meters away? Perfect. Nothing was blurry, nothing was hazy. It wasn't just one big mass of color."

"Did you tell them?"

"It took a while for me to realize what was going on," she responded, avoiding the question. "I thought it was just some weird side-effect of the virtualization sequence. But then we started destroying supercomputers in the real world, via the Replikas, and… it stuck." She sat down, suddenly emotionally drained. "I saw Xander, fully, at the Men in Black's compound. And I saw him again, when he threw himself in front of me — in front of the _gun_ — and we fell to the floor, and he died. It was the most horrific thing I've ever experienced. And I can't get that image out of my head."

He joined her, taking her hands in his. "Did you tell them?"

"No." She closed her eyes. "They knew I gained the perfect vision, and that it had added side-effects when I was devirtualized. But… no. I didn't tell them. I don't know if I will."

He was about to respond, when the door to the apartment burst open. "There you are!"

Giana stood in a flurry. "Mémé?!" she sputtered. "Pépé?!" A third person entered a moment later. " _Quentin_?!" She closed her eyes and shook her head, but they were still there when she opened them. She addressed them in French: "How the hell did you _get_ here?!"

The couple rushed to her, catching her in an embrace. Quentin stayed by the door, his hands clasped behind his back. "I cannot _believe_ you did something so reckless," Pauline said in a rush, smoothing the brunette's hair. "You put yourself in so much _danger_ , do you understand that?! I mean, yes, you saved the world of course, but—"

She stopped herself, looking past the girl and noticing Jack, who'd dropped the throw pillow to the floor.

" _Jacques_!" She pulled him into a hug similar to Giana's. "I'm so deeply sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," he mumbled, also switching to French and starting to feel very uncomfortable. "And, it's Jack, ma'am."

"Of course." She took a step back, observing the duo. Jean-Luc had let go of his granddaughter and sought refuge in an armchair. "Did we interrupt something?"

"It's fine," Giana responded in a rush. "But… again, how did you get here?"

"We flew, Miss," Quentin said simply, still stationed by the door.

"He's right," Jean-Luc drawled. "Your mother called to inform us of your escapades and we knew we had to be on the next flight out of Paris."

"Are you alright?" Pauline demanded, placing her hands on Giana's shoulders. She examined the girl closer. "They said you were shot."

"I'm better now," the girl explained, breaking away. She stepped back. "Still in a little pain, but mainly tired."

* * *

"Did you make sure it's kosher?" Giana pestered.

"Yes, dear," Janine replied, for probably about the thousandth time.

"Because Jack's family eats kosher during the holidays—"

"I'm aware, darling." She looked up from the food she was preparing, making eye contact with her daughter across the island. "I did a little online research."

"I don't understand why you can't have someone else do it," Pauline drawled, poised delicately on the sofa. She was flipping through channels on the TV in an attempt to find something in French. "I thought the Agency was taking care of your meals."

"Maman," Janine started, trying to keep her growing frustration at bay, "please. Unlike you, I _enjoy_ cooking." She put the casserole dish in the oven. "Plus, it's the least I can do. Jane and her family are in the middle of processing a lot of trauma right now."

Pauline looked to her granddaughter. "Where's Nico?"

"He's angrily kicking a soccer ball somewhere," the girl replied. "His phone hasn't stopped ringing since the press conference. Every college and university in the country wants him, but he still hasn't opened the letter from Columbia."

The woman arched an eyebrow. "So, why don't you do it for him?"

"Maman," Janine warned.

"She's right, Mémé." Giana wrung her hands. "Going through someone's mail is a crime."

"Oh, pish posh, he's your brother!" The woman stood. "I'll do it myself!"

Giana flew from her seat at the kitchen island, blocking an attempt by her grandmother to enter Nico's room. "Mémé, wait!" She tried a different approach: "You can barely speak English!"

"But I can read it fairly well," the woman asserted. "This is no way to conduct yourself, young lady—"

"Do not talk to my daughter that way," Janine snapped.

Pauline scowled, turning to face her daughter. "Your father and I tried our hardest to take good care of her while she attended Kadic! _Maybe_ , if you had let her stay with us instead of enrolling her as a boarder—"

"Stop it!" Giana cried.

"She wanted to be a boarding student!" Janine shouted. "And Sal and I let her, because she is a strong, independent, young woman who does not _need_ you and Papa to take care of her!"

"But then she got involved with that _boy_ ," Pauline scoffed, "and his _friends_ —"

"And they saved the _world_ , Maman!"

The older woman threw her arms up in exasperation. "She ran amok, Janine! Always skipping out on dinners, making excuses, getting _Quentin_ involved, no less! She deserted _her own tea_ before it even started—"

Giana made a strangled noise. "I didn't even _want_ a tea!"

Pauline and Janine straightened, staring at her.

"I didn't even want to be involved with Lyoko, but I _did_ ," the girl continued. "I was afraid, but people needed help, _my help_ , and look where it got us!" Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. "XANA might be gone but Xander's dead, _again_ , and now everybody knows _everything_ , and _we're not safe anymore_!"

Her mother tried to reach for her, to pull her in for a hug, but the girl dodged; instead, she headed for the front door, grabbing her coat and swiftly harnessing the dog.

Pauline attempted to stop her. "Giana—"

"I need to be by myself," they heard her say, muffled, as the door closed after them.

Pauline frowned. "Aren't you going to go after her?"

Janine, tired, moved back into the kitchen. "No."

"But—"

"Listen." She started washing a pan in the sink. "She's been through a lot. Between Xander, and Lyoko, and XANA…" _And almost dying…_

Pauline took a seat at the island. "Why is Xander such a sore subject for her?"

Janine stiffened.

"I'm genuinely curious."

"He hurt her," she replied, quiet. "Physically, and emotionally."

Pauline gasped.

"Sal and I didn't know until after she broke up with him. I think Nico found out at some point, but he let her tell us when she was ready." She paused, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "It was bad, Maman. He was stalking her. She couldn't leave school by herself for fear of getting hurt. She didn't feel safe." A lump formed in her throat. "My daughter didn't feel safe because of a boy."

"Oh, my…"

"So, we took out a restraining order on him," she continued. "And then Liam apparently faked his death and had him join the MIB, and… You know the rest."

"I…" Pauline blinked. "I had no idea." Uncharacteristically resting her elbows on the counter, she buried her face in her hands. "That explains it."

"What?"

"I was trying to set her up with Clarice's grandson, Blaise," she said. "For the _Bal_. Anyway, something went wrong, and I think she kicked him, and he left. I then brought up Xander in the argument that followed, and… You should've seen her face, Janine."

The woman leaned against the other side of the island, making eye contact with her mother.

"It was like I took a part of her, ripped it out, and shred it to pieces."

"You didn't know. We kept the situation very private."

Pauline stood abruptly. "I should go talk to her—"

Janine grabbed her arm. "No. Give her space. She'll come back."

* * *

"Hey."

Giana stopped short, letting out a breath as Yumi approached. She felt herself relax.

The older girl took in her expression. "Wanna get out of here?"

"Right," she scoffed. "They have guards everywhere. We're internationally recognized now."

"But you can disappear."

She thought a moment. And even though it was a terrible idea, it was also wonderful. Maybe getting off the CIA's grounds was exactly what she needed.

"I'll try."

Grabbing Yumi's hand, she made them, and Vega, disappear.

"Where to?"

"There's a coffee shop less than a block away," her friend said. "Let's go. We can talk."

She smiled. "Okay."

* * *

"… So, then I left." Giana stared down into her mug of hot chocolate. "I didn't want to listen to them argue anymore."

Yumi put her latte down on the coffee table between them. "Has it always been like this?"

"I think she's always been like this," she replied. "But I'm sure a lot of it has to do with me being visually impaired." She leaned back in the armchair she'd been occupying. "I don't get it. They don't treat Nico like he's fragile."

"But he's also a boy," Yumi pointed out. "It's a double standard."

"It's crap, is what it is."

"I know." She sighed. "My parents are the same with Hiroki; even though he's the younger sibling, he's viewed in a different regard."

"My father was always overprotective," Giana said. "You know; I told you. But then once the Xander thing happened, there was a period of time where my parents just… let me do whatever the hell I wanted. I think they thought that, if they tried to restrict my actions, it would be like they were interfering with the grieving process." She paused a beat. "Plus, they didn't know how to act once I'd told them about what he did to me. It was like they were afraid to say or do the wrong thing — they didn't know how to go about it." She took another sip of hot chocolate. "I can't wait to shut down the supercomputer. Go back to leading a normal life."

Yumi had been listening, but something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. There was a woman sitting at the bar while the baristas made their coffees, but she carried herself differently from the other customers. And she realized she'd been casting fleeting glances back at them.

The girl leaned in. "We need to get out of here," she said in a whisper. "Now."

The brunette frowned. "Why?"

"I think that lady's watching us." She finished the rest of her latte. "Finish your drink and get up like normal — don't make any sudden movements. We don't want her to know we saw her."

Nodding slowly, the girl complied, putting the empty mug back in its place and standing slowly with Vega. Buttoning her coat, she instructed the dog to follow Yumi out of the café and out on to the crowded streets of Arlington.

They blended in well with the midday rush, considering it was a Wednesday.

"I think we're clear," Yumi breathed. "Do your thing."

They faded from view, immediately garnering gasps and whispers from those closest to them. Bundled up in their winter clothes, not many people had recognized them while on the streets, and the patrons at the café had pretty much left them alone.

But the disappearing act drew attention.

Someone exclaimed that they got it on video, excitedly pumping their fist in the air as they stared at their phone. Giana swore.

"What?" Yumi whispered, as they continued to hurry down the busy sidewalk. She could almost see the Embassies. They weren't far from the safe haven of the CIA.

"I knew this wasn't a good idea. They know who we are," the girl translated. "Someone got our disappearance on video."

"Oh, we are so, _so_ screwed."


	53. Chapter LIII

**Chapter LIII**

* * *

"I cannot _believe_ you two were so careless!"

Giana and Yumi hung their heads in front of their parents, the adults berating them.

"You could have been attacked!" Takeho continued. "There are still members of the Men in Black out there that the agencies haven't found yet!"

"He's right," Janine added. "If you wanted coffee and a croissant, you could have easily asked someone to get it for you, or used a delivery app."

"We needed to get out of here!" Giana protested. "You and Mémé were arguing, and we've been stuck here at the CIA for _weeks_ —"

"We're going home tomorrow," her father interrupted. "While you were out, Director Paulson informed us that they found accommodations for everyone in the Boston area for Xander's funeral and the holidays; once the new year comes, you'll all go back to France to unplug the supercomputer and resume classes at Kadic."

Giana looked to her parents.

"We were moved to the Back Bay shortly after Nico left," Sal explained. "It was earlier than we'd planned, but you know there's more than enough room — especially since, as you know, Quentin and your grandparents won't be leaving anytime soon."

"Just… don't do it again," Akiko said, bringing them full-circle.

Janine nodded. "While it was extremely reckless of you to go off like that without alerting anybody or bringing backup, we know you've been through a lot. Next time you want to leave, at least tell someone first."

The girls nodded before exchanging a knowing glance. They were at the point where the adults responsible for them would let them get away with anything.

* * *

It had been a few days. The night of Xander's services, Jack had given Giana his laptop and a thumb drive. Sitting in Jack's room, she plugged in the device and immediately, a window for a video player popped up.

It was Xander.

He smiled. "Hey, Giana. Jack probably read his letter and gave this to you." He paused a beat. "I don't even know where to begin." Taking a deep breath, he refocused his attention on the webcam. "First, I want to apologize. I was terrible to you. I don't know what the hell came over me — I was mad about a lot of things, mainly my parents' divorce, even though that happened years ago and my father was an awful person. But I like to think I've changed. I'm happier now, but I miss you like hell. Things are going well in D.C., I guess." He took a sip from a water bottle. "I only have a vague idea what I'm doing. Dad says we're supposed to be saving the world." Letting out a short, sardonic laugh, he composed himself. "The only way the world would be a better place is if he weren't in it."

Giana felt that crushing weight start to settle as she continued staring straight at the computer screen, numb.

Xander smiled again, and it actually looked genuine. "I hope that, once I'm done here, we can see each other again. There are a lot of things I have to explain, and I can't do it all right now. But, I'm afraid. I don't know if I'm cut out for this. And, if I don't make it home…" He cleared his throat. "Just, know that I love you. And I hope I didn't mess you up too much. I hope you're doing well in France — you deserve it. I know I threw a huge fit when you were accepted to Kadic, but I was really just being insecure at the thought of losing you. I think you made a good decision, though."

It took her a moment to realize she'd been crying.

His expression fell, the boy lapsing into a moment of silence. "I hope you can forgive me."

That was it. The picture cut out, the program closing itself once the video finished. Shoving the laptop away, Giana brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and burying her head as she continued to shake, choking out sobs.

"Do you think he knew?"

It was Jack. She looked up. "Wh…"

He entered the room, sitting tentatively beside her. "Do you think he knew he wasn't coming home?"

"I feel awful!" she cried.

"I understand." He placed a hand on her back. "He had a terrible way of showing it, but he really did love you."

"I know he did." She tried to calm down. "But even if his claims were true, I couldn't get back together with him. He really scared me, Jack."

"I wouldn't have wanted you to," he admitted. "He… had a lot of our father in him."

"I never even asked…" She stood abruptly, angry with herself for putting her own feelings first. "Jack—"

"I'm okay," he interrupted, somber.

"You dyed your hair again," she realized. "You're not okay."

It was true: He'd gone back to blonde, a lighter shade than the one he shared with Xander. But before he could explain, there was a knock at the door.

Nico, not waiting for formalities, burst into the room. "We need to leave," he said, stone-faced. "Everyone. Now."

"Where's Jeremie?" Giana asked. She got an immediate adrenaline rush. "What can I do?"

"He's helping Ulrich and William evacuate," her brother explained. He strode over to a window and unlocked it, pushing the pane up as far as it would go. "Jack, help me pop the screen. We'll sneak out this way."

"Are you freaking _crazy_?" the girl demanded. "We're on the third floor!"

"You said you fell from a rafter in the factory that was twice this height!"

"But William was there to _catch me_! And I didn't fall — _I let go_!"

"What the hell is going on?" Jack demanded. He went over to Nico, complying with his request for help. "Don't tell me you have Spidey senses!"

The boy nodded. "Come on." He motioned for his sister to join him. "We'll just run down the fire escape."

"We're not at home, Nico!" she protested.

"She's right." Jack was already halfway out the window. "We don't have a fire escape. You'll have to slide off the roof overhang and climb down the tree." Taking in their expressions as he looked back, he added quickly: "I do it all the time when I sneak out. We'll be fine."

* * *

" _I_ found the supercomputer!" Jeremie shouted. " _I_ turned it back on! This is because of _me_!"

They'd finally managed to get everyone out and far away, the kids meeting at a rendezvous point near the Central Square T station.

"This is because of my father!" Aelita shot back. "All you did was bring me back and try to save our lives!"

Ulrich vibrated to a halt after evacuating the final person from the Emerson's house. "That's the last of them. We got everybody."

Odd was right behind him, having finally dissipated his shield. "Where are Giana and Nico? Last I heard, they were with Jack." He did a quick look around at his friends. "And… has anyone seen William?"

Yumi already had her hand on her phone, when the group looked up as a pair of headlights swerved toward them.

William rolled down the drivers' side window. "Get in!"

They didn't hesitate, clambering into the van not a second before it took off again. "Who's after us?" Aelita demanded, fumbling with her seatbelt.

"Men in Black!" Nico replied, harried. "Who else?!"

Once they were settled, William floored it, their vehicle traveling at an incredible speed.

"Bang a uey," Giana instructed, in English.

Her boyfriend tensed. "A _what_?"

"A uey!" she repeated.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"MAKE A FREAKING U-TURN!" she shouted in unison with her brother and Jack.

He complied, the force of the turn causing the kids to bang against each other and the insides of the car. "Am I going back to Boston Police Headquarters?"

"Yeah," Nico said, without missing a beat.

"It's a good thing I left Vega—" Giana went rigid. "Sonya!" She turned to her brother. "We have to go home!"

"There's no time!" he shouted. "And that's in the complete opposite direction!"

Ignoring him, she turned to William. "With your smoke powers, we'll be there and back in no time!"

William leaned forward, trying to concentrate. "I am driving this car and trying not to get us all killed! I don't even have a U.S. license!"

Jeremie cleared his throat.

Giana turned and looked in his direction. "Jeremie! Ever teleport out of a moving vehicle?"

"No," he answered, frighteningly calm.

"Good enough."

She grabbed his hand and they disappeared in an instant.

"Damn it!" William swerved. "What the hell does she think she's doing?"

"She's trying to be a good person," Nico replied, burying his head in his hands. "But she's going about it in an incredibly stupid way."

* * *

"We should call someone," Jeremie offered, peering around a corner inside the De Luca family's home.

"Who?" Giana responded. "We don't have the luxury of the CIA or FBI's resources." She let out a breath. "We're on our own."

He swallowed hard. "This wasn't a good idea."

"I can't leave her here," she explained.

"Are we risking our lives for your guide dog, or your housekeeper?"

She gave him a weird look. "Both."

"Okay." He looked around the corner again. "The coast is clear. Come on."

* * *

"Has anyone heard from them?" Sissi questioned. "It's been a half hour!" She leaned forward, yelling up to William: "How are we not at the police station yet?"

"I had to take a convoluted route so we wouldn't be followed!" he responded. "And I'm not used to driving on the right side of the road—"

"Didn't you drive in France?" Ulrich snapped.

"No!" He swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle. "I only have a British license!"

"I'll try calling them." Jack took out his phone and pressed the button on Giana's contact card.

It took a moment, but everyone's faces turned pale as they heard her familiar ringtone from inside her bag. Aelita tried Jeremie, and they heard his as well.

"I'm gonna kill them," Nico announced.

* * *

Sonya straightened when she saw the duo. "Oh! Giana!" She paused. "And… Mr. Jeremie?" Scrutinizing them, she frowned and switched to French. "What's wrong?"

"We have to go," Giana said. "Now." She reached down to pet Vega. "Where's her working equipment?"

"Where are your parents?" Sonya asked, leading them into the front hall. Giana grabbed Vega's leash and harness from the bannister and secured them to her dog.

"BPD Headquarters," Jeremie said. "We have to _go_ , ma'am."

Sonya pulled on her coat, clutching her keys in her hand. "Yes. Right."

Someone was trying to break in through the back. Vega stiffened, her ears perking up.

"Go." Giana pressed her dog's leash into Sonya's hand. "Get in your car, and drive. Go to the police headquarters. We'll meet you there."

"Giana—"

"Do it." She closed her eyes, hating herself for what she was about to say: "That's an order."

The woman deflated. "Of course."

Once she was gone, the brunette turned to Jeremie. "Do you have your phone?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Me neither."

"Why stay and fight when I can teleport us out of here?" he demanded.

"This ends now." She opened the front hall closet and found one of her backup canes, unfolding it to use as a makeshift weapon. "We can't keep running forever."

"It already ended, Giana!" he protested. "We defeated XANA! We won!"

"But we're still being hunted!" she shot back. "Do you want to worry for the rest of your life, constantly looking over your shoulder?"

He was about to respond, when he heard gunshots coming from an alarmingly close distance. "Get down!" he screeched, tackling the girl to the floor.

They fell, disappearing in the process as he activated his powers. When they opened their eyes, they were in the middle of the Boston Police Department Headquarters.


End file.
